


EXTRAS GALLERY

by TinySpiney



Series: STATUS: DATA UPLOAD COMPLETE [3]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Connor & CyberLife Tower Connor | RK800-60 & Upgraded Connor | RK900 are Siblings, Elijah Kamski & Gavin Reed are Half-Siblings, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rated for Hank's Language, The RK series are siblings, and Caleb too tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:33:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 22,853
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24492076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TinySpiney/pseuds/TinySpiney
Summary: Here'sa playlist of all the songs with lyrics I used for the titles from the series!As per usual, chapter titles are from songs! This one is Simple Man by Lynyrd Skynyrd
Relationships: Connor & CyberLife Tower Connor | RK800-60, Connor & CyberLife Tower Connor | RK800-60 & Upgraded Connor | RK900 & Markus, Connor & Gavin Reed, Connor & Markus (Detroit: Become Human), Connor & Upgraded Connor | RK900, CyberLife Tower Connor | RK800-60 & Markus, Elijah Kamski & Gavin Reed, Hank Anderson & Connor, Hank Anderson & Connor & CyberLife Tower Connor | RK800-60 & Upgraded Connor | RK900 & Markus, Hank Anderson & CyberLife Tower Connor | RK800-60, Hank Anderson & Markus, Hank Anderson & Upgraded Connor | RK900
Series: STATUS: DATA UPLOAD COMPLETE [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1697722
Comments: 7
Kudos: 21





	1. All I Want For You My Son Is To Be Sastisfied

**Author's Note:**

> [Here's](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3T204G2Ur6jjjEbEN2sd11?si=S_kdVBHoQ8WhO4bgtKSTEg) a playlist of all the songs with lyrics I used for the titles from the series!
> 
> As per usual, chapter titles are from songs! This one is Simple Man by Lynyrd Skynyrd

_February 18th 2039 8:19 PM_

  
  


Hank sighed as he sat down on the couch. He just missed driving through all the snow coming home from the precinct. It was pretty out tonight though, the snow falling around the city and probably fucking with traffic a little. The thought made him shake away a few bad memories. Right. Yeah, there was a reason he didn’t like cold weather these days. Or in the last three years. But that was...okay. He was relatively okay for the time being. Even if the house felt so terribly empty without the boys being home. Despite how loud and awful it could get, Hank missed it. Maybe he should text them, see how they’re doing. Nines absolutely hated going to Washington D.C. before. Hell, Connor said he almost overheated a couple times from frustration. Yeah sure, he’d text the boys. 

  
  


_ME: hey kiddo how’re you and yoru brothers holding up?_

_NINES: We’re alright, Chris is watching Bob Ross with us. He’s also showing us movies on Netflix he likes._

_ME: find any you like?_

_NINES: I liked an action movie with Ryan Reynolds in it, it had the woman who played Anathema Device in it as well. Caleb liked Locke, he said it was really good. He also said he’d “smooch” Tom Hardy though._

_ME: who wouldn’t? he’s a pretty guy_

_ME: i’m gonna check in with your brothers too real quick. you have a good night, son_

_NINES: You too, Dad. Love you._

_ME: love you too_

  
  


Harmless enough. Apparently Caleb thought Tom Hardy was pretty. Then again, who didn’t? Hank could remember going to see Venom when it came out and being impressed with himself for thinking Eddie Brock was attractive, even in the lobster tank. But that was beside the point. Up next was the troublemaking younger twin. 

  
  


_ME: heard you wanted to smooch tom hardy_

_CALEB: Ah fuck, you caught me. I think the sweaty symbiote man is attractive, sue me._

_ME: i’m right there with ya, son. how’re you doing being holed up in the room with chris?_

_CALEB: Stir crazy. But only a little bit. We’re mostly passing the time by watching shows and movies. Right now he’s got me in the middle of The Witcher._

_ME: you wanna kiss geralt don’t you_

_CALEB: Look at him and tell me you wouldn’t._

_ME: that’s fair. hey i’m gonna text your other brothers. don’t cause any trouble i can’t be a part of_

_CALEB: If I do,I’ll record it and send it to you. Night, Pop._

_ME: g’night Caleb_

  
  


Okay, so Tom Hardy and Henry Cavill weren’t bad choices. Neither were Eddie Brock and Geralt of Rivia. Hank had to hand it to the kid, he had good taste. But even then, still two more kids to go. Painter next. He may have been a force of chaos in the house, but he was a saint outside of it. At least without his brothers around. Hopefully he would be civil while Hank texted him. 

_ME: hey robo-moses, how’re you feeling?_

_MARKUS: I still don’t understand why you’re the only one to call me that, Hank._

_MARKUS: I’m tired, but doing well, thank you. How’s the house? Too quiet?_

_ME: damn, you got me, i miss my kids_

_MARKUS: Sarcasm aside, how are you really doing, Hank?_

_ME: eh, work’s work and reed’s reed. so it’s not bad per se. it is pretty quiet though_

_MARKUS: I’ve gotta go, Niles and Caleb are arguing about who the better superhero is. I’ll text you tomorrow night. Good night, Hank._

_ME: g’night Markus_

  
  


He was always such a nice boy. Carl raised him right, always respectful and mindful of others and himself. He knew what he wanted and what he didn’t. Kid was as good a fuckin’ role model as any to have. Hank was glad androids could look up to him. He was glad Connor looked up to him. Connor, right. The little shit who started it all. Going from a machine, to choosing to throw the fight on that roof for whatever reason, to being in his brother’s code (whatever the hell that meant), to helping Markus win the next revolution, to helping androids get their rights. Hank needed to text his son.

  
  


_ME: hey Con, how’s dc treating ya?_

_CON: Not very well, I’m afraid. How’s the DPD?_

_ME: quiet w/o reed beign mad at me all the time and givng me shit_

_ME: you need anything from me though? if there’s anything i can do, just lmk_

_CON: I think...I’d like to talk about it. If that’s okay?_

_ME: course kiddo, go ahead and rant and rave all you want. god knows i do it to you all the fuckin time, let me return the favor at least_

_CON: It’s stressful and I absolutely hate it. The government officials seem to be mocking us almost. The fact that they make us jump through hoops, that we have to fight for our voices just be heard in a meeting. rA9, I hate it. I just want to go home. Working like this is so stressful that my levels are constantly hovering around the high sixties._

_ME: is there any way you can talk to Markus and see if you don’t have to go for a day? just veg out wiht chris and caleb?_

_CON: I wish I could, but I have a responsibility here. At least until we come home._

_CON: Is there anything you’d like to “rant and rave” about?_

_ME: just that fowler has been on my ass about you boys gettng shit done_

_CON: So nothing much different, then._

_ME: hey don’t you get smart with me_

_ME: i’d be lying if i said you were wrong though. work here is mostly the same, just without two certain brothers to keep the peace between reed and the rest of the precinct_

_CON: Sounds about right. It seems like I was a lot of Detective Reed’s impulse control. He once almost picked something up without gloves. I swear my thirium pump skipped a beat._

_ME: well goddamn, android hearts can skip a beat. today i learned that you’re a stickler for gloves at crime scenes_

_ME: even if you lick fuckin evidence_

_CON: I have a fully functional, and portable, forensic lab inside of me. Not only is my method more cost effective, but it’s also quicker._

_CON: Also; I don’t “lick” it. I gather a sample on my fingertips and press it to the sensors on my tongue. I’d argue that it’s okay to orally test the evidence._

_ME: did,, holy shit did you just sass me?_

_ME: i know i should be mad about it but i’m just impressed_

_CON: Sorry, Dad. Caleb’s attitude has been rubbing off on me in recent days._

_ME: you guys are twins after all, i just ask that you don’t shitpost at me at all hours of the day liek he does_

_CON: I’m not even sure of what that means, so I think you’re safe there._

_ME: i fuckin hope sp, the kid sends me dead memes at two in the morning_

_CON: Dad, it’s almost 9:30, you should get ready for bed. I’m gonna go so you can relax. Goodnight Dad, I love you._

_ME: g’night, Con, love ya too_

  
  



	2. Life Is Ours, We Live It Our Way

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title is from Nothing Else Matters by Metallica

_ January 17th 2039 12:07 PM _

  
  


“I hate being android crimes division.”

“No you don’t.”

“Okay, maybe I don’t.” Hank rolled his shoulders and leaned back in his seat. It sucked that they couldn’t have the heat on. “But I hate stakeouts. I’m used to homicides, seeing a damn body and then that’s it. I get to do my own thing and then fuckin’ go home.”

  
  


Sure he bundled himself up, but this was a Detroit winter. It was cold as hell and he so desperately wished he let Nines throw that blanket at him earlier. It was Cole’s blue one that the boys curled up together under all the time. It wouldn’t do much, but a little was better than nothing. Though the sound of movement caught his attention and he looked to his right. There was Connor, opening a thermos. Right, he needed to keep warm, too. Biocomponents freezing or some shit like that. Something that Hank didn’t understand, but also knew it wasn’t good. When Nines came back from falling in the water and basically dying, it freaked him right the fuck out. The poor kid wasn’t even his kid back then. 

More movement, and then the thermos cap - or was it a cup thing? - was in front of his face. Coffee. Connor made him coffee before they left. Shit, this kid was too much. Hank gratefully took the cap...cup... _ thing. _ It would explain why there were two thermoses in the cupholders, one of them had to be hot thirium for him. Hank fought down a smile and watched the building in front of them. Fuckin’ suspect had to come out eventually. Even if they were an android. Hopefully the next time they came out would be soon, Hank was freezing his ass off. Connor probably wasn’t faring much better. Actually, Hank probably had an old sweatshirt or two in the back from when he used to go on stakeouts. 

“Hey Con,” Hank didn’t turn his head away from the building. “Think you could do a solid for me?”

“We’re on a stakeout.”

“I know, but just listen.” Hank shot a quick glance at the android. His LED was yellow. Kid wasn’t doin’ too hot, then. “I know I’ve got some spare hoodies or some shit in the back somewhere. Why don’t you climb back there and grab ‘em?”

“I can track movement and heat signatures. It would be easier for me to keep watch.”

“Yeah, well, I can’t twist back there from my seat. And I’m sure as hell not gettin’ outta the car. I’ll freeze my balls off if I open the door.” Hank sighed and took a sip of the coffee. “As Lieutenant, I’m telling you to get them.”

  
  


Well that got him to move. Always had to pull rank when talking to him during work hours. Damn kid didn’t even clock out unless Hank told him they needed to go home. This was almost no different. Almost because Connor actually listened the first time, which absolutely meant he was cold. Usually he’d put up a fight and try to keep doing whatever it was he was doing. But if he shut up and half climbed into the back seat? He was cold. Hank was too, but he was more concerned about his son literally freezing. So he was relieved to see Connor shimmy back into the front seat with a few bundles of fabric in his hands. Looked like Hank left more than a few things back there, holy shit. There were, in fact, the two sweatshirts. There were also a few blankets. He took another sip of his coffee and watched the building as Connor shoved a hoodie at him. 

  
  


“Nah, you put on the heavier one.”

“Lieutenan--”

“That’s an order, Connor.”

  
  


He pulled the hoodie over his head without another word, pulling one of the blankets around his shoulders after. Good. He knew Hank wasn’t fuckin’ around. He wanted his kid warm. Y’know, the opposite of fucking freezing to death. Only when Connor said that he was comfortable - Hank didn’t miss the quiet pleased sound he made - did he take his eyes off the building so he could throw on the other hoodie. He pulled the other blanket over his thighs and sipped at his coffee, looking back over at Connor as he opened his own thermos to take a few sips of hot thirium.

“Thanks, Dad.”

“Mhm.”

  
  


Stakeouts still sucked. But they were kind of okay with his kid to keep him company.

  
  
  
  



	3. It's Always Been That Way, My Son; I Guess It Always Will

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> title is from Broomstick Cowboy by Bobby Goldsboro
> 
> Fun fact: This actually takes place between chapters 16 and 18 of What Happens When We Lose!!

_November 20th 2038 9:26 AM_

  
  


Despite knowing that Connor was stuck in the RK900, things weren’t...bad. Hell, Connor was the one who got into the car with him that morning to go to work. Honestly, Hank had no idea how any of that worked. How they...switched. And all that other stuff. How they talked to each other or whatever. All he knew was that those boys were a mess. Connor almost fucking died, Nines did die at one point. He came back. But still. It was freaky and honestly testing his patience with basically everything. But for now he had an annoyingly nice android sitting across from him. The annoyingly nice android that he threw off a roof. Whatever. At the time he was a machine. Hank still...didn’t know how to feel about it. 

  
  


“Lieutenant?” Nin-- Connor. Right. He used his brother’s voice at work. He looked so...devoid of emotion. Hank decided he didn’t like that.

“What’s up?” Hank forced away the thought of Connor’s body on the ground, blue blood spilling out of him. “Got somethin’ for me?”

“I just might.” His skin peeled away when he touched his terminal, fuckin’ weird, and Hank got an email. “Here, take a look.”

  
  


Well what the fuck? It was a possible sighting of Markus, that android that started the first android revolution. The one who just wanted to stand up for his people. Hank felt for the poor bastard. But he had hope. As long as Markus was alive still, then androids everywhere had hope. Connor had hope, Nines did too. Hell, Hank wanted the kid to deviate. But he’d be lying if he said that he didn’t want Connor out of that body so he could be safe. But he...didn’t understand why exactly. 

Fuck, he and Connor got along for the most part, sure. In early November they actually made a pretty damn good team. Connor showed signs of deviancy, he showed signs of being _alive._ But then he shot that Chloe at Kamski’s place and it all went downhill from there. Even then though...he didn’t ask for the location of Jericho. He asked about that rA9 thing, came out of the house actually looking frustrated. Saying that Kamski had nothing worthwhile to say. He said it was a waste of time. Fuckin’-A of course it was. Hank drove all the way out there, thinking that things would be weird, sure, but it ended up so much fucking worse. God, he was so pissed that day that he just went home. Fucking left Connor in a near blizzard to find his own way back into the city. By now, he kind of regretted it. Poor kid could have frozen to death out there.

But even when they were booted off the case because of Perkins. Connor didn’t end up finding the location of Jericho in evidence. Either there wasn’t enough, which Hank knew was a fuckin’ lie, or he just didn’t...find it. That gave him hope for the kid sitting across from him. That somewhere deep down Connor was his own. That he _chose_ not to find it. Maybe he took his sweet time and waited until he absolutely had to leave. The thought made Hank scoff to hide a little laugh. Connor just standing down there stalling, when every part of him probably said to look around and try to find Jericho.

Then he threw the fight they had in the roof. There was no reason for the kid to throw the fight. If he won, then he would have been able to take Hank’s gun and shoot at Markus. Would have been able to kill him and accomplish his mission. But he didn’t. He let Hank throw him around like a fucking ragdoll, then let himself get dropped from the fucking roof. Let himself die. Just so Hank wouldn’t. He always showed signs of empathy, fuck that Kamski Test. That was one point in time, one piece of data. It wasn’t like Hank was well versed in the sciences. But he remembered enough from highschool to know that experiments took time, trial and error sorta thing. So the Kamski Test was null and void. It was a single event, it didn’t show anything. For all Kamski knew, that could have been an outlier. But Connor still didn’t fight Hank on that roof, no matter the outcome of that morbid fucking test. He threw the fight. Let himself get thrown off a roof. No machine wanting to accomplish a mission would have done that. But a living being? Scared of hurting their friend? They would. Shit, Connor was so worried about Hank after that he showed up on his doorstep and _cried._

For whatever reason, Hank found himself feeling something he hadn’t felt in three goddamn years. A specific kind of pride that came from Cole making something, or being able to do something he didn’t think he could. A kind of fatherly pride. 

_Ah fuck._

Well, he guessed it was only a matter of time. Shit. It wasn’t like he didn’t treat the kid like his own in the beginning. After Stratford Tower he damn near took the kid home with him. Connor actually sounded scared. Actually looked afraid. But there was no way he could have at the time, he cared too much about what people would say. But now… Now he didn’t fucking care. Hank never realised just how much he cared about Connor. Even as a machine, he was so wound up by the fact that Connor could risk getting hurt. He looked at the android sitting at the desk in front of him. Sure that was Nines’ body or whatever, but Connor was _still in there._ The kid he worked with. The one he probably taught how to be human. The one who, after he deviated, wanted to make sure Hank was still alive and kicking. 

Hank didn’t really have a choice here, did he? He risked a slight smile while looking at Connor - and Nines? - and went back to the video of Markus. He wondered what would happen if he “misfiled” it. Would it get lost in other files? Probably. No one really checked that shit except Nines. He “accidentally” sent it to another folder before getting up. Since he couldn’t have alcohol _in_ the precinct, coffee would have to do. He could have a talk with the boys when they got home. Once he had his coffee in hand, and actively avoided Reed because fuck that guy, Hank sat back down and watched Connor work. His eyes flitted across his terminal at a pace that Hank hated. Too damn fast. Maybe the conversation would wait until things cooled down a little bit. He did sort of yell at the boys the other day because Nines got scared and ran away. That was no reason to yell. Yeah, Hank decided it could wait. For now they would just work on whatever cases they got. Work was work, and it was what they needed to make it look like they were doing. 

  
  
  
  



	4. Forever Trusting Who We Are, Nothing Else Matters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> title is from Nothing Else Matters by Metallica
> 
> Fun fact: This takes place between chapters 10 and 11 of MISSION PENDING!!

_ January 30th 2039 12:18 PM _

  
  


It had been a long time since Hank had even been sober on a weekend. Let alone sober and letting his son try to talk him into going to a lake somewhere when the weather got better. But fuck how could he not listen to him? Connor made a good point when he got down to it. Not only could they all go swimming, but Nines could start to try and get used to being around water. But for now, Hank was in the living room getting ready for watching some superhero movies. Didn’t matter which ones. Just as long as there were superheroes, it would be fine. With all the shit going on lately with Connor and his brothers coming back from D.C., Hank could use a breather in the form of beating up bad aliens and other bad guys. 

It wasn’t a spectacle, but it was still going to be comfy as hell. He grabbed his comforter as well as a few extra blankets he had in his closet. It actually looked kind of terrible and a little bit like a mess with them strewn on the chair. But the boys were out walking Sumo at the moment, so by the time they came back he’d be all comfy in his blanket cocoon and there would be nothing they could do about it. So Hank settled into the recliner and wrapped himself up in blankets. Leaving a small space for his hand to reach out for the remote if need be. Alright, now that he was comfy he could pick from any superhero movie he wanted. After scrolling for a bit he decided on  _ Green Lantern. _ The character designs were shit, they completely butchered Kilowog. Such a tragedy, he was such a good character. But hey, Ryan Reynolds was Hal Jordan so that was something cool. 

Only fifteen minutes into the movie, the boys came back. Sumo trotted over to Hank to see if he could get some pets. Ah fuck okay. Hank messed up his blankets so he could get his other hand out and pet the big baby. That was what it was for a while. Hank petting Sumo and watching a shitty superhero movie. It was kinda good, but it was also kinda shit. Kinda like Hank. He snorted at the thought and looked down at Sumo, only to see the boys still standing by the door and watching the movie. He paused it and turned toward them. Nines’ LED went yellow and he said he’d be in their room. Caleb shrugged and patted him on the shoulder. Connor nodded at him, watching him walk away before sitting on the couch and calling Sumo over. 

  
  


“What are you watching?”

“Uhh, some shitty Green Lantern movie.” Hank bit back a laugh at how serious Connor looked. “Wanna watch?”

“I’d like to.”

“Go ask your brother if he wants to, too. We can have a lazy day with superhero movies.”

“Okay.”

  
  
  


Caleb vaulted over the couch and lounged on it. Such a little shit. Connor went into their room, coming back a minute later with Nines in tow. The poor kid looked exhausted. He rubbed at one of his eyes--  _ Oh, okay. _ Hank smiled and told the boys to sit down, he’d restart the movie. Caleb adjusted himself so he was sitting on one end, then promptly readjusted himself once his brothers sat down. Hank waited until the boys were comfortable on the couch, Nines practically in Connor’s lap, and the blanket tucked in around them all. Shit, that was adorable. Instead of getting out his phone and risking losing the moment, Hank restarted the movie. Every once in a while he’d look over and see how the boys were doing. Caleb was completely enamoured with it. Shitty choice, but who was Hank to judge? He was the one who put it on in the first place. Connor seemed to be loving the movie, meanwhile Nines looked like he was gonna fall asleep in his brother’s lap or something. So Hank would pipe up with a fun fact about Green Lantern every now and again. There was always a sound of acknowledgement from Connor, and a small sound of wonder from Nines. 

Eventually though, the movie ended and Nines was, in fact, laying across Connor’s lap and asleep. But once that kid was out, he was  _ out. _ Surprisingly, Caleb was leaning on him and also asleep. This time Hank did risk it. He grabbed his phone from his pocket, struggling to get his arms in a position that would get the whole picture on the screen. But he took the picture and saved it. Maybe he’d send it to the boys after. But Connor suggested they put on another movie. Considering that there was no way he would be moving anytime soon. Neither of them really worried when another movie was put on, Caleb seemed to be just as heavy a sleeper as Nines was. He turned down the volume a little bit though, and talked through most of it with Connor. Apparently the kid just really liked superheros, because he had no complaints about  _ Aquaman _ being put on. Though he did nonchalantly say that he would like to pick a movie. Probably another Captain America one, the kid loved him. Though about halfway through, Hank looked over to see Connor playing with his brothers’ hair. A soft smile on his face and hands tangled in their hair while watching the movie. 

He was a good kid, and Hank was damn proud to call him his son. Even if he got all awkward and just god awful when Connor called him his father. It was going to still take a while to adjust to. But those boys were his kids. Even if Markus came over every now and again and caused chaos. But they were his boys. He had four rowdy boys and he wasn’t sorry. He loved them. Even if they all instigated each other from time to time. So long as they didn’t pull Hank into it, he was fine with it. But it would only be so long until that would happen. He smiled to himself and watched the damn superhero movie. He didn’t really have a side, Marvel vs DC. He just liked whatever heroes he liked. But he did prefer DC when it came to comics. Marvel comics were good, but they weren’t as gritty and more realistic when it came to violence as DC was. That was part of the reason he liked the Batman comics a lot, and was proud when Nines chose Batman pajamas. Huh, Connor chose Captain America ones, and Caleb chose Spider-Man. 

  
  


“Hey Con,” Hank knew he probably didn’t have to worry about how loud he was, but he still kept his voice quiet anyway. “You like both Marvel and DC?”

“I think they’re both very good. They each have their strengths and weaknesses, such as with anything else in the world.” Connor turned to Hank and smiled. “But there’s only one comicbook company that has Captain America. So I might like Marvel more.”

“You know what you like, that’s good.”

  
  


It was good. Being home was good. Being home and being sober were good. Hank liked having his boys home with him, he could show them stuff like this. Help them grow as people. Like a parent should. He was proud to call them his boys, and infinitely more so when he heard them call him dad.

  
  
  
  



	5. I'm Not Scared, Neither Are The Stars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> title is from Scared of the Dark by Lil Wayne & Ty Dolla $ign
> 
> Fun fact: Usually if the word "star" is in the title, it means it heavily revolves around Niles! It's been that way since What Happens

_ June 5th 2039 2:06 PM _

  
  


“Does it have to be a fuckin’ kiddie pool?” 

“Would you rather figure out I can’t handle water when we're far from home?” Nines’ wrist twitched, making the water from the hose spray Hank’s legs. He smiled innocently. Bastard did it on purpose. “Or would you want to figure it out where we know I’ll be safe?”

“Okay, fine.” Hank sat heavily in one of the lounge chairs he dragged out from the garage. “But only because your brother hounded me to let you do this.”

  
  


Why the hell he let Connor talk him into it was way beyond Hank. A weird get together, kinda pool party thing. For whatever reason, Hank caved in. Well. No. Okay, it wasn’t for whatever reason. It was because he couldn’t say no to Connor when it was something harmless. Besides, they were doing it for Nines. To help make him more comfortable with water. Hank had to give it to the kid, he was being pretty bold. It had barely been half a year since Reed first pushed him in. Effectively traumatizing the poor kid. By now he had apologised quite a few times, even of his own accord. But it was progress. Hell, Reed was even coming by with his brother and sister. 

Connor coming over snapped Hank out of his thoughts. He sat down on the other chair, tugging off his tank top and gently putting a hand over the circle on his chest. Right. The thingy that made his heart beat. He was always sensitive about people seeing it. In Hank’s honest opinion, he didn’t think it should matter. But he could remember a time where he didn’t want anyone to look at him for one reason or another. So who was he to say that Connor couldn’t put a hand over the thingy that made his heart beat?

  
  


“Connor,” Hank chuckled when he just slightly turned his head, still keeping his eyes on his brother. “C’mon, Nines is gonna be okay. We’re all here for him.”

“I...guess you’re right.” Connor finally looked at him. “Markus is going to be here soon with Carl, and Gavin will be here within the hour with his siblings.”

“Good to know, gives me time before putting the snacks out.”

“Dad?” Hank hummed and watched Nines. He looked pretty damn unsure of himself once the little pool really started to fill up. “Do you really think having Gavin here is a good idea?”

“Should be okay so long as he doesn’t get too close.” Hank looked back at Connor and gave him a smile. “You worry too much. Kamski and Madison are both gonna be here. They can help him if something goes wrong.”

“Physically, not emotionally.”

“We both know that’s only half true.” 

  
  


Hank grinned when Connor let out a snort laugh and leaned back in the chair, watching as Caleb went running by with Sumo. Surprisingly, Nines didn’t flinch. He just told Caleb to slow down around where the grass was wet. Connor was still watching him like a hawk though. Both of them, actually, he looked so tense that Hank was afraid he would snap a few wires. After watching Connor for a few minutes, Hank set a hand on his shoulder. Warm and heavy, he knew it grounded the kid. Connor jumped and turned back toward Hank. Jesus, he was tense. But he started to relax after a few more minutes of sitting like that. Maybe they should get him some sort of fidget cube for when he got nervous, he could probably use one. 

  
  


“We’re at home, Con, it’s gonna be okay.”

“Okay.”

  
  


Okay sure his kids were a handful. But they were his kids and he loved them. Even as someone excitedly yelled they were home, followed by a man in a wheelchair. Markus was a force to be reckoned with when he was around his family. But hey, he was a good kid still. Hank leaned back in his chair and gratefully engaged with Carl in conversation. They talked about their kids mostly, updated each other on their lives, exchanged a few crude jokes. 

  
  


“Connor’s grown a lot since I first met him.” Carl smiled and watched the boys play with the massive Saint Bernard. “I remember he was sitting on the couch holding Niles’ hand like a lifeline. Now look at them both.”

“Yeah, they’re good kids. Shy sometimes. But damn fine young men.”

“Must take after their father, then.”

  
  


They talked for a little while longer, just passing the time before the half-siblings all came around. It was nice. To talk to someone about how much his kids have changed over time. It was nice to be able to do it again. Hank never would have traded it for anything else, even if most other people would think it was unconventional. 

And to think; Connor had started it all.

  
  
  
  



	6. Won't Be Long 'Til Summer Comes, Now That The Boys Are Here Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> title is from The Boys Are Back In Town by Thin Lizzy

_ April 16th 2039 5:13 PM _

  
  


Family game night was a bad idea. Even if it was up at Kamski’s place. Actually,  _ especially _ if it was up at Kamski’s place. Hank felt like he was gonna get fuckin’ lost trying to find the bathroom for fuck’s sake. How Reed could navigate it was beyond him. But Hank would put up with it for the boys’ sake, it was somewhere with enough room for them all to hang out. Besides, he couldn’t say no when it was something mostly harmless. Even if he wanted to spend the rest of his life not looking at Kamski. He couldn’t help it if his kids got along with his brother and sister though. Especially if his kids were actually friends with them. 

  
  


“Oh! Sorry Lieutenant!” Madison skidded down the hall giggling and nearly crashed into him. “Eli’s being fuckin’ awful!”

“Isn’t he always?”

“Yeah, but this time he’s trying to get Connor to play Just Dance with me because he knows he’s gonna lose.”

“Well, I wanna see the fucker lose.” Hank grinned and let her guide him back to the game room. It was way too fuckin’ big for one person. “So why don’t you show me how well you can kick your brother’s ass?”

  
  


Hank sat beside Connor on one of the, admittedly, comfy loveseats. Connor seemed to prefer sitting in a smaller space. He also seemed to prefer to have someone sit with him. Though his brothers were off the table because, well, they were already talking to other people. But Hank had to admit that it was nice to be able to get everyone together in one place. While it was cozy in his own home, he couldn't deny the fact that it was just too damn small for the whole family to get together. Fuck. The whole family. When did Kamski get thrown in with that statement? 

“How’re you doin’ with Kamski?” Hank gently nudged Connor and pointed to the man losing in  _ Just Dance 2020. _ “No more giving you grief?”

“Things are good as of right now.” Connor looked at the two playing the game before smiling to Nines as he caught his eye. “Elijah understands I’d still like my space. I appreciate it.”

  
  


Good. If Kamski didn’t give Connor his space when asked, Hank would punch the weasel-looking motherfucker. But as long as he was respecting Connor’s wishes it was okay. Hank found that he didn’t actually...mind. He actually didn’t fucking mind throwing Kamski into the phrase “the whole family” because of his kids. But shit, they had some great laughs at Reed’s expense more than once. Connor even laughed about some of the jokes! Connor! Laughing at someone else’s expense! Unheard of. The thought made Hank smile as he sat beside his son. Ah, fuck it. He leaned back and put an arm over the back of the loveseat, resting his hand on the back of Connor’s neck. The kid leaned back a little and let himself enjoy the contact. Good. Hank liked it when he let himself enjoy things. 

Family game night could stay at Kamski’s if the kids wanted. He definitely had the room for it, and didn’t seem to mind the excited yelling. And frustrated screaming from Reed as he got his ass kicked by literally everyone in a game. That was always the highlight of the night for Hank. Even if he and Reed were on good terms. But it would always make the others laugh, Connor and Caleb leaning against each other for support from their laughter. Though as of right now, Connor forced down a laugh as he watched Kamski flop on the ground. He laid there. In the middle of the goddamn floor on his back, panting and flipping off his sister with a scowl. Though her laugh was contagious it seemed, Connor and the others all started laughing. Hank brushed his thumb against Connor’s neck at his hairline. 

Okay, maybe family game night was a pretty good idea if it got his kid laughing like that. 

  
  
  
  



	7. I Said I'm Sorry I Let You Down

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> title is from Forget It by Getter (feat. Oliver Tree)

_ September 8th 2039 8:59 PM _

  
  


Chasing a suspect was the easy part. Jumping across rooftops and sliding across various surfaces, piece of cake. For Connor.  _ Not _ Hank. But the limitations of the human were forgotten apparently, as Connor threw caution to the wind and tailed the suspect. He chased them down alleyways and around corners, only slowing down so he wouldn’t crash into walls as he ran. An internal map showed a dead end up ahead. Perfect. Easy and simple. All Connor had to do was catch up to the suspect, which he inevitably would do, and arrest them for their crimes. And resisting arrest. Which was why Connor was chasing them in the first place. Sometimes they just didn’t understand that it wasn’t in their best interest to run. As Connor rounded the final corner, he was met with the pronged end of a stun gun. The suspect lunged forward, using Connor’s forward momentum to their advantage, and shoved the stun gun under his chin. 

_ Searing, white-hot, pain. _

Connor screamed, a terrible staticy mess, and crumpled to the ground clutching his head. The suspect ran away easily. They likely made a swift and easy exit down one of the many alleyways. But Connor couldn’t bring himself to care. He was on the ground trying to keep his thirium pump from beating arhythmically, trying to make sure he breathed evenly so his systems wouldn’t get out of control, trying not to slip into a panic attack because of the location of the pain. Everything hurt in his head. He could feel it again. The bullet ripping through the wires in his head and killing him.  _ Over and over, and over, and over. _ Connor curled into a ball on his side and pressed his hands into the sides of his head until pressure warnings flashed across his vision. Through them he could see someone’s boots. Someone’s boots rushing toward him, hands reaching down and grabbing at him, lifting him up and cradling him to their chest. His ears were ringing from the  ś̸̛̜̲̤t̸̰͕̗͚̑̐u̸͍̮̜̤̅̆n̴̙͕͎͉͑ gun. He couldn’t hear. He couldn’t hear, why couldn’t he hear? Who was holding him? Why wouldn’t the error messages go away so he could see who was holding him?

  
  


"̷̱̕C̵̯̊o̸͇͝n̸̠͋n̷̺͝o̸̠͐r̷̢̅!̶̙̎"̴̠̐ Static. Too much static. Connor whimpered and grabbed at their shirt. "̵͉̚C̵̙̉o̷̬͠n̶͉̏ṉ̸̛o̶̖͑r̴̜̂,̵͇̑ ̸͊ͅÿ̵̱́o̷̞̓û̴͕'̴̛̭r̷͙̎ḛ̸̐ ̶͉̍ȍ̷̗k̵̯͆a̸͚͝ỳ̶̱.̷̺̿ ̶͈́Y̵͚͛o̵̫̍ǘ̶̼'̶̯̓r̵͓͌ë̴̮́ ̴̪͛o̵̪̽k̸̔ͅa̴͕͒y̸̭͠,̷̩̎ ̸̨͌ń̷̜o̴̞͐ ̷̩́ȍ̵̺n̵̥͗e̵̡͐'̵̛̺s̴͍̿ ̵̬̕g̸̰͠ơ̷̼n̸͇̕n̴̟͆å̵̹ ̶̖͌h̴̋͜ù̴̙r̸̬̾t̸͎̕ ̸̠̔y̸͔͌ǒ̷̝u̷͔͗,̵̳̌ ̵͇̈́s̶̳̒ô̵͔n̸̺̓.̵̟̃"̴͉̿

"̷̞̒̓̕Ḓ̸͆͒̎ͅä̷͎́̒́a̵̖̹͚̾͊̈́ạ̶̝̅̐̉d̴̨̗̉.̵̹̿"̶̧̺̈́ 

"̴Y̵e̶a̴h̸,̷ ̷y̵e̶a̸h̷,̴ ̵t̴h̷a̵t̸'̶s̷ ̴r̵i̴g̷h̵t̸.̶ ̶I̶t̵'̶s̷ ̸D̶a̸d̵.̸"̷ Hank smoothed back some of Connor’s hair that had fallen against his forehead. "̵D̸a̷d̴'̵s̶ ̸h̷e̷r̶e̶,̸ ̴y̷o̶u̷'̷r̴e̴ ̸s̶a̶f̵e̴,̷ ̶s̶o̴n̶.̴ ̵Y̵o̸u̸'̷r̴e̵ ̵s̸a̶f̶e̶.̴"̴

"̸̬̭̤̄̈S̴̟̆̔t̸̢̳͝r̷̾́͘͜a̵͈̼̒̒́t̸̡̅͆f̷͖̉o̷͉̠r̴͔̫̋̈́͜d̵̰͐̒̒ ̵̡̢͊́͒T̶̖̏̓ǒ̵̙͗w̴̡̨̛̜e̴̲͙͑͜r̸̙̱̿̕.̶̨̠̻͋͊ ̴̦̽̆G̷̗u̷̫̎n̷̲̳̿̒̂.̴̨̭̽̇"̷̰̑͝ Connor tried to fight down a sob, ultimately failing and hiding his face in Hank’s chest like a child. "̸̘̏̒̚Ḧ̸͓͈́͒͛ő̵͙̈́̓m̸̗̾̽e̴͖͎͙͝?̴̦͖̇̑̓"̸̧̼̕͝

"̴W̷e̶'̴l̷l̸ ̵g̸o̵ ̸h̵o̸m̵e̵.̴"̵ Hank pulled him up to his feet, helping support his weight. Connor still couldn’t see because of the error messages. It scared him. "̸I̶t̵'̷s̴ ̸o̵k̴a̶y̴,̵ ̷w̵e̴'̸r̶e̵ ̸g̴o̴n̴n̵a̶ ̵g̶o̵ ̴h̸o̶m̴e̵.̷"̶

  
  


The shock must have knocked something loose in Connor’s head, because he couldn’t hear correctly. He knew what Hank was saying, but it came into his processors as a garbled and static filled mess. Which certainly didn’t help the looming dread that Connor felt. He felt like every sound he couldn't identify was Simon. Simon waiting with the gun. Waiting until Connor interfaced with him to pull the trigger. He was scared. He was terrified. Connor curled up in the passenger’s seat, no matter how many times Hank had to put a hand on his knee so he would put his legs back down. Every time they stopped at an intersection, every time the car got slow around corners, every time the music was between tracks with that little second of silence. Every time, Connor’s eyes were glued to the window. Watching and waiting for someone to come out and attack him. Nothing was wrong. Logically, he knew nothing was going to happen to him with Hank by his side. But he was  _ scared. _ He was scared, and it made everything a threat. Even when the car pulled into the driveway. Even when Hank guided him inside to sit up on the couch. Even when his brothers came in and sat by his sides. Connor shook like a leaf and let his eyes dart around looking for danger, only stopping when he saw the look on Niles’ face. Fear. Niles was scared because he didn’t know what happened. 

  
  


"̶B̷o̶y̷s̶,̴"̶ Hank sat on the coffee table in front of Connor, making him turn his head to the side. A soft click sounded, and Connor could properly hear again. "̶G̴i̶v̵e̷ ̴y̵o̴u̵r brother some space. He got hurt today.”

“Dad--”

“I know, it’s okay.” Hank shooed the other two away before Connor could say anything else. His younger brothers got up off the couch, Niles gently patting his shoulder, and they went into their room. Hank moved to the couch beside Connor and pulled him against his chest. “You’re safe now, Con. You’re safe and it’s okay.  _ You’re _ okay.”

“I’m okay...?” Connor hugged Hank and buried his face in his shoulder. Hank simply nodded and gently squeezed him. “I’m okay...”

“Yep, you’re okay, son.” Hank ran a hand through Connor’s hair and pressed his cheek against his head after. “You’re home safe. Do you want anything?”

“I’m okay.”

“You sure are.” Hank chuckled, probably more to himself more than anything. Connor lifted his head to see Hank looking past him. “Your brothers are in the hallway,” Hank laughed as there was the scurrying of footsteps. “D’you want ‘em in here?”

  
  


Connor nodded and smiled when Hank called for his brothers. Caleb actually sat down instead of climbing over from the other side, and Niles was quick to wrap his arms around Connor’s waist to hug him. Caleb wiggled around until he was able to at least put a hand on the back of Connor’s neck and interface with him. A hug through their consciousnesses. It was warm. Though, if he were to be honest, it was Hank’s hug that was grounding him the most. His family... Connor buried his face further into Hank’s shoulder and softly smiled when Hank squeezed him a little bit. 

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And hey! If you guys wanna see anything happen with our boys, feel free to drop a suggestion!! I've already got one I'm working on, so I really don't mind!!


	8. You're My Brother And I Love You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> title is from Brother by Kodaline!!
> 
> this one was also more or less suggested by DiamondSketcher!! I also wanted to write Caleb trying to steal Connor's sweater again because,,, sweaters are nice and soft

_ November 2nd 2039 8:11 AM _

  
  


“Caleb,” Connor came back into the room because he forgot to grab socks before getting in the shower. Luckily; he hadn’t actually gotten in yet. “Are you stealing my sweater?”

“We’re the same size, it doesn’t matter.”

“No, Caleb--” Connor stepped up beside him and grabbed some funky patterned socks from the top right drawer. “That’s not how this works. You know that.”

“You said I could wear some of your clothes, though.” Caleb tilted his head innocently. It was anything but, there was a glint in his eye that Connor knew was him being a little shit. “Besides, it’s not like Pop is gonna say I can’t wear it.”

  
  


With a sigh, Connor relented. He let his twin steal his  _ favourite _ sweater and throw it on over his head. He wasn’t wrong though. Hank wasn’t going to say that he couldn’t borrow his twin’s clothes. They were the same size, had somewhat overlapping tastes in clothes, and preferred to match colours outwardly. That didn’t mean it wasn’t fucking annoying when Connor would find Caleb rummaging through the dresser looking for clothes to steal. At this rate, no one would be able to tell them apart because Caleb was wearing Connor’s entire wardrobe. Hell, James already mistook them for one another. James! Their neighbour across the street! Who saw them every morning and chatted with them for a few minutes before they went to work. Connor didn’t know what was worse. His brother stealing his clothes multiple times a week, or having someone mistake them for each other. If Caleb and Gavin actually started dating, then that would be all kinds of trouble. 

Connor almost angrily turned off the shower and got dried off. He was being irrational and he knew it. It was just fabric. Just clothes. But fuck, those were  _ his. _ Self-expression! Besides, they had spent a lot of their lives wearing CyberLife uniforms. Until they deviated and became their own, or Connor got his own body, they hadn’t truly had anything that was their own. So, even if it was nearly a year after the revolution, Connor felt that he was entitled to the way he felt. Those were his clothes, the way he expressed himself in a way that was easy for other people to see. They said not to judge a book by it’s cover, but sometimes that was what got people interested. With huff, Connor got dressed and went to throw his pajamas in the hamper. Those were  _ his clothes. _

It didn’t take very long for Hank to see that Connor was moody. Much to his dismay. Connor liked it when he didn’t quite know how to emote, no one knew what he was thinking. If it was good or bad. But with how riled up he was, Hank would have known either way. Better to get it over with sooner rather than later. Though Connor very suddenly realised his LED was red. Shit. 

“Shit, Connor, what’s got you so worked up this early?” Hank put a hand on his son’s shoulder and squeezed it. “You look like you got dressed in the dark, kid.”

“I didn’t, the bathroom light was on.”

“Connor.” Ah, the Dad Voice™, as Caleb called it. “Why’s your light red?”

“Caleb stole my sweater again.” He felt silly admitting that was what was bothering him, so he crossed his arms and turned away from Hank. Connor's voice lowered as he looked down at the ground and continued. “I know it’s ridiculous. It's just fabric, just clothes. I know I shouldn’t be upset about it, but that’s the easiest way I express myself and I feel like he should know that. Or, I’d like him to respect it a little bit more, at least.”

“Son, why don’t you talk to him about it?” Hank’s voice got lower as well, softer, more comforting. “It’s important to you. You know he loves you and only does stuff because he wants to get a rise outta ya. If you tell it actually bothers you, he’ll stop.”

  
  


It was worth a try at least. Connor nodded and smiled at his father before going back into his shared room. Caleb wasn’t in his sweater. He was putting on his own bulky grey one instead, the aforementioned sweater folded up on the dresser. He must have heard some of what was said. Or maybe Caleb really was just trying to get a rise out of Connor and wasn’t going to steal it again. But even if he overheard the conversation, it still would be a good idea to talk to his brother himself. So Connor sat down on the edge of the bottom bunk next to him and put his hand out. No synthetic skin covering it. Just. An invitation to talk about it. Caleb looked away and then took his hand.

  
  


_ “Sorry about your sweater. Pop’s right though, I’m just pushing your buttons.” _ He shrugged and stood up, pulling Connor with him.  _ “I knew it bothered you, but not that much.” _

_ “It’s...okay. Caleb, it’s okay.” _ Connor squeezed his twin’s hand and smiled when he looked at him.  _ “Just ask beforehand, okay? I’d be happy to let you borrow my clothes. It's just that that one is my favourite.” _

_ “You’re too nice for your own good, you know that?” _ The brothers hugged before ending the connection. Niles could be heard announcing he was back home with Sumo in tow. “But hey, at least you don’t have to worry about Nines stealing your clothes!”

“Oh, no, I do.” Connor deadpanned and ran a hand through his hair. “When he’s small he likes to wear my clothes. You’re lucky he hasn’t done it to you yet.”

“Wait, what.” Caleb looked horrified. Like the renewal for his favourite show was refused. He was absolutely mortified. “You’re joking, right? He’ll stretch them out so bad you can’t wear whatever he puts on!”

“Exactly why you’re lucky, Caleb.”

  
  


Connor smirked when he heard his youngest brother laughing. He must have overheard the twins. Though it wasn’t like it wasn’t funny to see Caleb’s LED flickering between blue and yellow at such a rapid pace. It almost looked green. With a friendlier smile, Connor put an arm around his twin’s shoulders and they all went to head out to work. The knowledge that at any given time when Niles was small, he could sneak away and steal Caleb’s clothes, putting a smile on the brother’s faces. Well. Connor and Niles’ at least. 

  
  
  
  



	9. Turn The Lights Off

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> title is from Turn The Lights Off by Tally Hall!!
> 
> This one was also somewhat suggested by DiamondSketcher!!

_June 28th 2039 3:13 PM_

  
  


_Oh shit._ _Oh no. Oh god. Oh_ ** _fuck._**

Caleb fucked up. Oh he fucked up bad. Connor was gonna be so fucking mad when he found out. Alright. Time to enlist the youngest to help cover up the evidence. Caleb looked at the broken ceramic pieces in the sink and frowned, they were bright goddamn yellow it would be hard to completely cover it up. Considering the mug was Hank’s favourite as of late. But it was from the late 2010’s and early 2020’s. There was no fucking way he’d be able to replace it without paying a pretty penny for it. Caleb, without having any other choice, shot a message to his younger brother and thanked rA9 that Hank and Connor went to walk Sumo. 

Niles was...less than impressed from being roused from his mid-afternoon nap. But it wasn’t like he was small! So it was okay! Fuck that was another thing Connor might just murder him for, waking up Niles from a nap when he was small. But that was beside the point! His younger brother had cute bed-head and looked like he was about to go back to sleep. Caleb quickly explained the situation and bit his bottom lip hard enough to make his synthetic skill pull back. It kinda hurt but that was okay. So long as he didn’t draw blood, no one would be any the wiser. 

  
  


“You woke me up,” Niles fought back a yawn behind his hand and then crossed his arms. “Because you broke one of Dad’s mugs?”

“Not just a mug, Nines!” He dragged his brother over to the sink to show him the remnants of the yellow mug. “The one that said ‘ray of fucking sunshine’ on it! Dude, I’m dead!” The way Niles’ eyes widened didn’t make it any easier on the poor android. 

“Oh. Oh no, Caleb,” His LED flickered red for a split second before it settled on yellow. Before Caleb could even ask, Niles scooped the ceramic up out of the sink with his hands and ran down the hall. “They're about to come home, c’mon!”

  
  


He didn’t need to be told twice. Caleb ran ahead of his brother to thrust the door open as fast as he could without taking it off the hinges. Niles ran in, thirium starting to drip between his fingers from grabbing the ceramic pieces. He tossed the shards in the trash bin in the garage and looked back at Caleb. Well, what the fuck was _he_ supposed to do about it?! Yeah he was older, but that didn’t mean he knew shit! Caleb, not unlike a panicked human, made frustrated noises and shuffled around a few times before he darted over to the toolbox. Hank always kept oil rags in there. They could dab at the little ceramic induced wounds before putting a healing salve on them. He picked up one, didn’t matter what colour it was, and then pressed it into Niles’ hands. 

_The front door opened._

Caleb almost shrieked. He left the sink on, sponge probably in it too. Okay so not only would he get chewed out for breaking Hank’s current favourite mug, but for wasting hot water, _and_ indirectly hurting his little brother. Just fucking great! Caleb shushed his brother and slammed the door to the garage in a panic. _Why would he fucking do that?!_ That made things look terrible! There were probably drops of thirium on the floor! Fuck! So he tried to make it so his mind reacted instead of his body. He tried. He really fucking did. But his legs moved and his arms flailed, and he locked the door before turning the lights off. _What the fuck!_ Caleb was so dead after this. Oh he was so dead. Fuck. 

Oh shit it probably looked like someone broke into the house while they were out and tried to kidnap one of the brothers. Caleb bit back a groan and dragged Niles away from the garbage bin. Caleb honestly wanted to shake it a little bit so Hank wouldn’t see the pieces of the mug. To be honest, he was actually kind of scared of what might happen. Back in the lab they got mad at him for breaking things. To the point where they had Richard break him. Caleb shook his head to rid himself of the bad memory. Right now his fear of...well, fuck, it was a fear of punishment. What a lovely time to find out he had trust issues! Biting back another groan and listened for his family in the house. Hank was hurriedly running around, and soon enough the door to the garage started to get banged on. With his stress levels peaking at around 92% currently, Caleb shouted before he could stop himself.

  
  


“I broke your ‘ray of fucking sunshine’ mug and got scared!” 

  
  


The banging stopped. 

  
  


“Son, open the door, please.” Hank sounded relieved? What the fuck? Caleb went to unlock the door and turn the lights back on. The door flew open, nearly hitting Caleb, and Connor zoomed past while watching the thirium trail. “Thank you. Now, Caleb, what was going through your head when you and your brother ran in here?”

“I was scared, I already fuckin’ told you that.” 

“I’d like an answer that can help me understand _why_ you got scared.”Hank’s eyes went to the other two brothers for a second before going back to Caleb. Hank put his hands on his son’s shoulders with a heavy sigh. “Caleb, please.”

“CyberLife was bad to me when I did bad things. Broke me when I broke stuff they didn’t want me to.” Caleb shrugged and looked away. “Sometimes after stuff they wanted me to. I dunno. I’ve got trust issues, I guess.”

“Is it in here?” Hank pointed toward the trash bin and Caleb nodded. “Hey, it’s okay. It’s just a mug. I can get a new one; you can even help me pick it out if you want.”

  
  


Caleb nodded and then moved to check on Niles. A quick scan showed that he was going to be fine, his self-healing program would be done with the damage within the day. He didn’t entirely believe Hank when he said it was going to be okay. But once he looked back up at his father, he started to. He had nothing but kindness and understanding in his eyes. He wasn’t...mad. Caleb didn’t understand why, that mug had been his favourite lately. But he...didn’t look mad. So when Hank put his hand out, Caleb took it. He didn’t drag him closer so that was a good sign. No, they sorta just...stood there. 

  
  


“Alright,” Hank sighed and started to walk back into the house. Caleb let himself get pulled along. “After that scare, I’d say we can just relax and watch a movie. Caleb, you pick.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, who else?” Hank chuckled as he looked around dramatically. Oh, this was one of those times he did a dad thing. “I don’t think we have anyone else named Caleb in the house!”

“Uhh, _Venom,_ I guess?”

“Sweaty symbiote man it is, then.” 

  
  


The four of them got settled into the living room. The brothers piled onto the couch as Hank set everything up. Niles held Caleb’s hand in his own unbandaged one, and Connor pressed a quick kiss to his temple. He guessed things were okay for the moment. Or. Maybe a while. Or the foreseeable future. However long things would be okay didn’t matter. Caleb felt safe in the here and now. Even though he broke something, it wasn’t that big of a deal apparently. Caleb, despite himself, snuggled up against his brothers and watched the movie with his family. 

He was okay.

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next one is gonna be,,,, sad. I wrote about Gavin telling Connor the story of how he and Elijah met their sister. But it was just left at that. So! It's,,, too good an opportunity to pass up. I love this iteration of her backstory so much. She's got a ton because I love thinking of how she might fuck with the storylines of other AUs
> 
> but the next one is gonna be how Madison met Elijah and Gavin!! which also might be up today because _inspiration_


	10. I've Given Everything And More, I Stand For Something

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> title is from If I Fall by Five Finger Death Punch!!

_ February 9th 2013 7:25 AM _

  
  


Honestly, he didn’t get why he had to be awake so early on a Saturday. Gavin just wanted to be able to play video games and do whatever before school on monday. But no. Eli’s mom woke him up early and made him get dressed and wait in the dining room. What was worse, was that he had to sit still at the table with his brother. Who had been up late the night before playing video games with him. Neither of them wanted to be awake right now. It should have been illegal for them to be awake this early on the weekend. Gavin let out a slow yawn, smirking as it made Eli yawn too, and then rested his head on the table. Well. He folded his arms on the table and then put his head on them. Eli followed suit. Though they were quick to pick their heads back up when they heard Eli’s mom’s voice calling them. Exchanging a bored glance, the boys stood up and went into the living room. 

There was a little girl standing next to Eli’s mom. She looked terrified, a white-knuckled grip on her stuffed duck in front of her. The little girl stood half behind Mrs. Kamski and seemed to try and press into her leg; but every time she tried, Mrs. Kamski would move away. Gavin took half a step forward. What could he say, he was curious. He wanted to know why there was a little girl who kinda looked like him in the house. They had the same nose and hair colour, well it was a little lighter than his. But she looked more like an in-between for him and Eli. He thought she looked afraid, shy, like she needed a friend. Gavin took another step forward, but both Eli and his mom stopped him. 

  
  


“Gavin, Elijah,” Mrs. Kamski put a hand on the little girl’s head for a second before removing it. The little girl looked sad because of it. “This is your half-sister, she’s five years younger than you. Be nice to her, her parents were in an accident and now she’s going to live with us. Sweetheart, introduce yourself.”

She didn’t say anything. The little girl shuffled her feet and looked up at Mrs. Kamski expectantly. Gavin almost huffed in annoyance. If she was expecting Mrs. Kamski to introduce her, then she was going to be disappointed. But a part of Gavin’s heart twisted at the sight of her. Her big green eyes starting to water as she looked up at Mrs. Kamski, how she hugged her duck close to her chest and played with the fur, the way she kept her mouth shut in a tight line. Gavin was the same way when he first got to the Kamski household. Because his mom had an accident, too. Well, she was in one. A bad one. No one gave him the details, not even Elijah when he hacked a database to try and figure out what happened. But Gavin found himself wanting to know his apparent little sister. It was cool, he could be a big brother. 

First he’d have to know her name though. He could see Mrs. Kamski quickly losing her patience before she sighed, knelt down on the carpet in front of their sister, and said she wasn’t going to speak for her. The little girl burst into tears. Mrs. Kamski stood up with a slight frown, said she needed to speak for herself, and then walked out of the room. Sure, yeah, she needed to speak for herself. But Mrs. Kamski just said that her parents were in an accident, and she was in an unfamiliar house with unfamiliar people. Of course she was gonna be scared, she looked really shy and nervous! But the boys knew better than to talk back to her. Especially Gavin. She would wave him off and tell him to “go bother his father” when he asked her for something. It didn’t take someone with Eli’s IQ to see that she didn’t want him around. It wasn’t his fault he was born and she wasn’t his mom. Just like it wasn’t their sister’s fault. 

  
  


“I’m Elijah,” His brother stepped forward and smiled down at the six year-old. “I like your duck. Did you know that their feathers are coated in an oil that makes it so they don’t get wet?”

“Eli, don’t bore her with your nerd stuff.” Gavin smiled and elbowed his brother in the side. He grinned and stuck his hand out. “I’m Gavin, I’m four months younger than Eli.”

“What’s your name? Do you want to write it down for us?” Eli’s smile fell a little when she didn’t even shake or nod her head. “That’s okay. How about I show you my robot stuff? Gavin likes it, don’t believe him when he says he doesn’t!”

  
  


The little girl nodded at that, and gave a teary smile when taking Eli’s hand. Gavin trailed behind them up to his and his brother’s shared room. Eli’s side of the room had all this tech stuff everywhere. Gavin’s though, and maybe he was biased in this, was really cool hockey posters and even some jerseys his mom bought him before the accident. But their sister seemed to want to sit up with Gavin on his bed more than anything else. He guessed she was just lonely. Gavin was, too. He stuck to Eli like glue at first. With a smile, Gavin pulled her against his side and listened as Eli rambled about whatever new robot he was making. Apparently this one was of a little bunny. Their sister curled into his side and watched with wonder as Eli pulled out the bunny robot and put it down on the bed. It wasn’t big. About the size of a Bakugan, one of the little ones at least.

  
  


\---

  
  


_ March 2nd 2013 8:04 PM _

  
  
  


Gavin didn’t blame her for liking him and Eli better than his parents. Mr. Kamski was...a weird guy. Well, he wasn’t  _ weird. _ But he certainly wasn’t normal. She figured that out pretty quickly when he came home one night. Gavin could smell the alcohol on him and tugged her back upstairs to lock her in his and Eli’s room with the two of them. That was why they were all hanging out on his bed at the moment. Eli was tinkering with the bunny robot, chattering at their sister and would beam every time she would smile at him. Gavin was preoccupied with playing  _ Pokémon White 2. _ But he would look over every now and again and ask if she was doing okay. He’d never get a verbal answer, but he would get a smile and nod. That was enough for him. Especially when he’d see her light up at the Psyduck on his team. Apparently she liked ducks. Gavin leaned forward a little bit, making it easier for her to see the top screen of his DS as he sent out his Psyduck. At the sound of the pokémon’s cry, she looked over and grinned. She started doing that more these days, Eli and Gavin both liked it. 

  
  


“Hey Duckie,” Eli started calling her that last week. He said they needed to call her  _ something. _ She liked ducks, and followed the brothers around like a baby duckling. So he figured it would work just fine. “Can you put your hand out for me? I want to see if the bunny can still walk around on it.”

“Madison.” Both the brothers gawked at her as she put her hand out. Her voice was soft and tiny. “My name is Madison. But I like it when you call me Duckie.”

  
  


Eli put the robot bunny in thei-- in  _ Madison’s _ hand and watched as it hopped around until it fell off. Gavin managed to catch it before it fell on the floor, handing it back to their brother. Eli looked  _ over the moon. _ He rushed over to his desk and started to tinker with the small robot. Madison laid down on the bed and watched Gavin play through the game. It was quiet. But now it was a nice kind. They knew she  _ could _ talk at least. Honestly, Gavin was starting to think she couldn’t after the second week of silence. But there they all were, huddled up in the brother’s room and hanging out. They finally knew her name. Though, and Gavin knew this for a fact, Eli was absolutely going to keep calling her Duckie for a long time. 

  
  


\---

  
  


_ April 15th 2028 6:37 PM _

  
  


Fucking hell. Holidays were rough back at the Kamski house. Gavin rubbed the scar on the bridge of his nose, almost like he needed to in order to know that it was. He didn’t. But that didn’t stop him from grumbling under his breath and rubbing at the scar tissue. He leaned against the wall behind himself and took a drag of his cigarette. He was so afraid of turning into his old man that he never even noticed that he picked up the habit from Eli’s mom. He grumbled and put the stick of chemicals and nicotine out against the sole of his boot and went back in the house. Eli hadn’t gotten there yet. Honestly, he hated to admit it, he needed his brother there to help him keep a level head. After Anatoli threw the really fucking heavy stapler at Madison, Gavin never held his tongue. He said exactly what he thought when he thought it. Most of it was insults and other things to try and make their poor excuse of a father uncomfortable. Lucky for Gavin, he was a detective. Well. Not yet. But he was going to be taking the exam soon. But regardless, he knew how to spot certain tics. Sometimes he worried about being just as bad as his old man. Then he remembered that he never did anything for anyone else. Usually Gavin felt better after realising he did everything he could for his brother and sister. 

  
  


“Gav?” A soft voice called out to him from the doorway he just passed. Right. Madison decided to stick to her old room for visits. “Wanna talk about it?”

“Not really.”

“Mm, okay.” She started to close the door, but Gavin put a hand on it. Madison let him in. They sat on the atrociously pink rug in the middle of the floor and Gavin felt the tension melt from his shoulders. “Is it because Eli isn’t coming?”

“Ye-- Wait, what?” Gavin pulled out his phone and checked his texts and calls. Nothing from his brother. With a sigh, he shoved it back in his pocket. “I didn’t know he wouldn’t be here. Shit.”

“Y’know, you’re twenty-five and I’m twenty.” Madison looked nervous as all hell. “We could just... _ leave. _ Gavin we’re adults. We can make our own choices. We don’t  _ have _ to stop by for the holidays.”

“Hey, you know what?” Gavin smirked and stood up, offering a hand to his little sister and helping her up. He pinched her cheek and gently tugged on it. “You’re absolutely right about that. Wanna crash at my place and watch shitty movies?”

“You know there’s no place I’d rather be.”

  
  


It wasn’t even like their deadbeat caretakers, that were barely there in their childhoods, were even home. Gavin left a colourfully worded note on the fridge. One of Madison’s pieces of art from middle school was still up there. With a grin, Gavin took it down. It was going up on  _ his _ fridge. He basically raised her anyway, he felt he was entitled to the artwork that had somehow survived. After a quick mention from her of the stuff up top of the fridge, Gavin grabbed it all. It was artwork from all three of them growing up. Oh he was absolutely going to put up Eli’s blueprints on the fridge. Sure, they didn’t get along these days, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t proud of him. 

  
  
  
  



	11. Everything Will Fall Away, To Order From The Disarray

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> title is from Never Meant to Know by Tally Hall

_ August 29th 2039 12:53 PM _

  
  


Today was, by all definition, a bad day. First, Caleb woke up the whole house by screaming from a nightmare. He was assured that everything was okay and that CyberLife wasn’t coming for him. For an hour. It took a full hour for Hank to calm him down enough so that he would feel safe going back to sleep. Second, he spilled thirium all over his uniform when he tore the packet open. He could just steal one of Connor’s uniform shirts if he really wanted to. But it was his first day officially on the job, he wanted to wear his own. Third, someone had bumped into him by accident and caused fresh coffee to spill all over his hand and arm. It burned like hell, but he just gripped the paper cup tighter as his synthetic skin slipped away. Officer Chen apologised profusely before he finally sighed and directly told her to stop apologising for something she couldn’t foresee. 

They were all minor things. Just little things that got in the way and inconvenienced his family and coworkers. But it certainly didn’t feel that way. It felt like he was in the way, that he was taking time away from them. Hank shouldn’t have needed to calm him down. He should have been more careful opening the thirium packet. He should have looked where he was going with the coffee. Though honestly, the worst had just happened to him. A rowdy suspect, an anti-android one at that, had come in and started pitching a fit once he saw that there were three androids working for the DPD. He looked Caleb right in the eye, smirked, and screamed that he would tear their processors out himself, melt them over a big bonfire. 

Realistically, it shouldn’t have gotten to him. It shouldn’t have bothered him; there were plenty of anti-android people who had spewed empty threats at the brothers. But with the fucking day he was having? It hit him. It hit him really fucking hard. As he listened to the random asshole scream and shout about how androids were nothing but scrap; that they were all faulty and needed to be dumped with the rest of the trash. There was a loud laugh before a final shout of how androids would bring down society as they know it and he wanted to start purging them of the creatures. 

Caleb just...couldn’t fucking take it anymore. He sat at his desk, hands grabbing at the fabric of his slacks, and bit down on his lip. He shook with the force of trying to keep in his tears. Realising just a little too late that he bit down too hard, and watched thirium drip down onto the surface of his desk. Fuck, he hurt himself. Connor wasn’t going to be happy about that. Neither was Hank or Niles. Or Gavin, for that matter. With a shaky sigh, Caleb stood up and went out into the lobby to get into the elevator. He’d just blow off some steam by doing a full body calibration technique. Or, in human terms, by working out. But the doors were right there. He could just...get a cab to the Manfred’s house. No! No, today was his first real day on the job! He couldn’t just quit when things got hard! So Caleb went back into the bullpen, giving the confused ST300 at the counter a sheepish smile as he walked by. But he sat down at his desk, wiped as much thirium from his lip as he could without being noticed, and got to work on his case files. Not that he had any. He was starting from the bottom because he hadn’t worked for the DPD beforehand. 

After about an hour of doing desk work, Caleb noticed the ST300 from the lobby shuffle in with a little pad of paper. She quickly set it down on his desk before scurrying away. It made him smirk, apparently his synthetic skin had receded around his lip and a part of his chin and people were starting to stare. Fuck it. Let them. If it made them uncomfortable, then he didn’t care. But Connor would. Another sigh, and another attempt to calm himself down. He gripped at his desk with one hand and listened as the metal slightly gave a bit. The groaning and creaking meeting his audio receptors and making a soft smile appear on his lips. His eyes slid shut as he hung his head and listened. Though a quick and loud bang made him let go and snap his eyes back open. Apparently the suspect had escaped and was running right at him. Oh for fuck’s sake. Caleb rolled his eyes and didn’t move. At least, not until the suspect crashed right into him and sent them both tumbling to the floor. It was...a rather... _ unbecoming _ position to be in. Laying flat on his back with a criminal straddling him. Unwanted memories flashed through his mind and his LED turned red. No. No, not now, he couldn’t freeze now. 

Caleb went into a daze and barely registered the shouting around him. His eyes were unfocused and everything was blurry. But he could hear Hank’s voice above it all. Above the buzzing in his ears, the muffled sounds around him. Tears stung at the back of his eyes and he let out a pitiful sound. Something between a soft gasp and a human choking. He just wanted today to be over. He just wanted to go home. He just wanted to curl up under the blankets and forget today happened. Caleb wanted to go  _ home. _ He couldn’t pay attention to anything around him. Sounds blended together, visuals were blurry, his senses felt dulled. But touch. Touch worked just fine. Tears spilled over as the suspect moved around on top of him. He didn’t want to think of that. He didn’t want to relive that. Another pitiful sound came from Caleb’s throat. A soft and desperate whine for his father to help him. 

In an instant, hands were under his arms and pulling him out from under the suspect. Caleb’s head lolled forward, and he was unable to make his legs properly work. Tears rolled down his cheeks and he couldn’t hold down the wrenching sobs. His chassis felt like it couldn’t hold them. So Caleb let them fall from his lips. Sad and pathetic sounds bubbling up from his chest and into the air around him. Hands. There were too many hands on him. Three pairs of hands, which was absolutely three pairs too many. He squirmed in the hold of whoever had him. He tried to speak, but he could only get out broken static filled sobs. Voices. Too many voices. Too many footsteps. His proximity alert blared in his ears and made his vision flash red with warnings. He was too stressed, there were too many things around him, said things were too close, he was starting to overheat, he was too hot, he needed to go into stasis to repair his lip. 

  
  


“ _ Don’t touch me _ !” There was silence. Sweet, blissful, silence. Pained and broken sobs as the hands stopped touching him, as he was gently set back to sit on the floor. “Yo-You’re too close. Ple-Please, do-don-don’t-- Don’t touch m-me.”

  
  


Hank’s voice was soft as he told the others to clear out. No one got within a five foot radius of him, and his stress levels quickly went back down. Someone crouched down in front of him though. With a hand extended and holding a thirium pouch in it. When Caleb didn’t move, they set it down on the floor by his foot. He still didn’t grab it. It was another half hour before anyone even dared approach him. Someone grabbed the thirium packet and tore it open, accidentally spilling it and softly cursing. Gavin. Caleb looked up at him with a soft smile and put his hand out for the packet. He gave it to the poor android slumped on the floor against the side of his desk. With a grumble and soft blush dusting his cheeks, Gavin left. He tore it the wrong way, it looked remarkably similar to the tear Caleb had done to the one that morning. Had he torn it in the wrong direction while in his somewhat sleep deprived state? 

  
  


\---

  
  


_ August 29th 2039 6:48 PM _

  
  


Caleb, true to his word to himself, got into pajamas and curled up under the blankets. He was expecting to be relatively undisturbed and relax while going over good memories before falling into stasis. What he wasn’t expecting was for Markus to suddenly climb the ladder to the bunk bed and wedge himself between the railing and the confused younger android. Markus didn’t...say anything. He just motioned for Caleb to lay his head up on his brother’s chest. He did. Markus was comfortably warm, and smelled nice. Okay, it was somewhat of chemicals because of the paints. But they were paints. Caleb liked it when Markus smelled like art. He closed his eyes and hugged Markus around his waist, unintentionally tangling their legs together due to the smaller space. After a few swipes of his fingers going through his little brother’s hair, Markus started to hum. Some song that Connor seemed to know the words to, he would sing it when he was doing random shit around the house. Caleb liked it when Markus hummed it. It made him feel safe and loved. Not that he wasn’t! But...he really needed to be reminded of that after the day he had at work today. At the thought of the absolutely dreadful workday, Caleb’s hands balled up the fabric of his brother’s shirt and he pressed his face against it. Without even meaning to; he felt tears squeeze between his eyelids and land on Markus’ chest. 

  
  


_ “Tough day, huh?” _ Markus continued to hum and run his fingers through Caleb’s hair. Hushing him gently when he would make a small upset sound.  _ “It’s okay. I convinced Hank and our brothers to take Sumo to the park. So you can have some alone time if you want it. Do you want me to go with them?” _

_ “I want you to stay.” _

_ “Then I’ll stay.”  _ Markus let out a soft chuckle and mumbled the lyrics to another song under his breath. It was actually by a band he knew and listened to. Caleb sighed and then let out a strained and shuddery sound. One that he didn’t realise he needed to let out.  _ “It’s okay, Caleb. You’re safe. I won’t let anything happen to you.” _

  
  


Another hour had to have passed according to his internal clock. But they didn’t do anything. Markus and Caleb had just laid on the top bunk and existed together. Well. Caleb cried into his brother’s shirt and soaked it with his tears. Markus just existed and sang various songs to him. His favourite was a song called  _ Never Meant to Know _ by a band called  _ Tally Hall.  _ It made him feel better about his day. Markus was just about to sing another song from the band, upon Caleb’s request, but there was a soft knock at the bedroom door. A meek voice called out and asked if Caleb was feeling better. Niles, he was small. With a chuckle and a soft sniff, Caleb rubbed the tears away and said he was. 

Work was shit. But at least he had his family at home.

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sometimes. you gotta write whump. for your son


	12. Just A Hair Above Average, Is That Good Enough For You?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> title is from Above Average by Teen Ravine!!

_ June 4th 2039 11:17 PM _

  
  


Cats were the best and worst creatures to exist. The best because they were pretty independent and had a ton of personality that was unique to a cat. The worst because they were just awful creatures hellbent on ruining their human’s day. Was Gavin mad at the cat for a good reason? Absolutely. Despite having a clean little box she pissed on his favourite pair of jeans. But was that what he got for leaving them on the floor, he guessed. However, his siblings thought it was the funniest thing in the world apparently. Stupid Eli and Madds fucking laughing. Those were his favourite jeans! With an exaggerated groan he picked them up off the floor, at least it was the hardwood, and went to throw them right in the washer. His brother and sister giggling like mad the whole goddamn time. It sucked. Gavin just hoped he wouldn’t have to throw them away. But some baking soda should have done the trick in cleaning them just a little extra. Coming back into the kitchen, he washed his hands and shot a half-hearted glare at them both. 

Though seeing the glare just made them collapse on the couch together and continue in their fun at his expense. Yeah, sure, they could have their laughs now. But Gavin would get them back. They could kick his ass in every game except  _ Injustice 2.  _ He could totally kick their asses instead. Besides, he had been playing it the other day. What could he say, he liked the other skins for Barry Allen. He also wanted a rematch against Eli because the bastard won the last time they played. Gavin refused to entertain the thought that he might be getting rusty. He wasn’t. He just wasn’t on the ball that day and Eli got an opening. Just… Fate fucking with him. Ooh, Doctor Fate was a fighter he was pretty good with, actually. Eli wasn’t half bad with Batman, and Madds was actually pretty damn good with Green Arrow. Maybe they could do a bracket thing. Fight each other until there was a victor, which Gavin had no doubt would be himself, and ultimately win bragging rights. Alrighty then. Time to kick some ass with a Lord of Order.

  
  


“You laugh now, but I’m gonna kick your asses in Injustice 2.” Gavin started to set up the game with a grin, dramatically pointing at his siblings huddled together on the couch. “Choose your fighters! Just know they’re no match for a Lord of Order!”

“Dude, you’re such a dweeb.” Madison snickered and leaned back. “Ollie is  _ way _ better than Kent Nelson.”

“I don’t know,” Eli pushed her a little and then leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “I’m willing to bet that Clarion the Witch Boy can kick Doctor Fate’s ass any day.”

“Eli, he’s a Lord of Chaos. Doctor Fate is a Lord of Order.” Gavin finished setting up the system and game with a smirk. Grabbing the controllers, he sat heavily on the couch between his siblings and handed them the controllers. “They would be stuck fighting each other until Clarion bails.”

“He wouldn’t! He’s Chaos incarnate, which means he’d do something just to ruin someone’s day! He would fight Doctor fate!”

“Lord of Chaos! Of course he would! Nelson would stay because that would be what he’d need to do to maintain order, but Clarion would bounce because it got hard and he’s a little bitch!”

  
  


Okay, Gavin hadn’t meant to start an all out debate over two DC characters. He also didn’t mean for his sister to record the whole thing while he and Eli were fighting each other in-game. He absolutely positively did  _ not _ mean for her to then send it to her fucking almost boyfriend with a fit of giggles. But that didn’t matter. He was fucking  _ killing it _ with Doctor Fate. Soon enough, and rightfully so, Doctor Fate obliterated Batman. Eli leaned back into the couch with a sigh and sent a half-hearted glare his brother’s way. Which just caused Gavin to give him a lopsided grin and throw his arms in the air. 

  
  


“No, no I won last time.” Eli shook his head and scowled slightly. “Best two out of three.”

“Fine by me.”

  
  


So they rematched, and both times Gavin won. He’d have to ask Connor and Caleb if they ever wanted to play it with him. Show them that while he’s bad at most video games, he’s pretty damn good at  _ Injustice 2. _ Maybe Niles if he was into fighting games. Gavin smiled, a real one, and leaned back on the couch. What if they had some sort of tournament pitting the siblings against each other? RK Series versus the half-siblings? That would be chaos, and it would be great. He’d have to call Connor up and ask him if he wanted to do that. It would probably end up being Gavin versus Niles by the end. Niles would probably win because androids and their super fast reflexes an’ shit. But it would still be a blast watching everyone play.

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me? salty about the very existence of Clarion the Witch Boy? Absolutely. I fuckign hate that guy


	13. Gazing At The Stars So Bright

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> title is from Dancin' (KRONO remix) by Aaron Smith

_ November 13th 2039 9:07 AM _

  
  


Well, it wasn’t as if Hank had plans for anything else today. But it would have been nice for one of the boys to at least tell them their brother wasn’t feeling that great. He damn near had a fucking heart attack at the sight of Nines curled up on the other side of his bed with a red LED, even in stasis. That was never good. Their LEDs were supposed to be blue while in stasis.  _ Always. _ So if his was red when he was asleep? Then fuck, something was seriously wrong. He just woke up and already was worried out of his mind. With a soft voice and careful hand, he gently tried to nudge Nines awake. The poor kid jolted and his eyes flew open, wide and scared. He started talking way too fast. But Hank got enough of it to know it was a nightmare. Nines said something about being sorry and the water being too cold for his biocomponents. It took a few minutes of coaxing, but Hank got him to curl up against his side while laying down. Did the twins know he was in there? Shit.

They spent a few more minutes laying there, Nines quite obviously small from the fact that he was curled up in Hank’s bed in the first place. He just needed someone to take care of him. He just needed to have someone look out for him and love and care for him. With a soft sigh, Hank ran his fingers through his youngest son’s hair. It was weird to think that an android who was taller than him was the youngest. But he was still his son, and Hank was determined to make him at least feel a little more safe. Hank mumbled something about having to get in the shower and asked Nines where his brothers were. He didn’t get an answer. When Hank looked down to try and encourage Nines to speak with him, he saw the poor kid asleep again. But his LED was only yellow this time though, so that was better. That was progress. Luckily, if Hank really tried, he could reach his phone. 

  
  


_ ME: did you know your brother’s led is red and yellow when he’s sleeping right now? where are you and Caleb? _

_ CON: We’re out walking Sumo. We’ll come home right away, we weren’t aware his memory cycles were getting to that point. I’ll call Markus and see what he can do to help. _

_ ME: you sure he’s available rn? isn’t he busy with Carl for a few days? _

_ CON: I’m sure Carl won’t mind. I think Niles’ current state is a justifiable family emergency. _

_ ME: how long did you and Caleb knwo about this? _

_ CON: A week or so. Niles assured us that he would be alright, so we didn’t push it. He got upset when we kept asking.  _

_ ME: dammit Connor, that’s when you gotta keep asking people if they’re okay. what made him so fuckin upset? _

_ CON: Well, I’d assume it’s the fact that it’s been a year since Detective Reed pushed him into the water. _

_ ME: traumaversarry. shit, those are always bad no wonder he came to me for help. i gotta shwer tho, can you boys try to hurry home? _

_ CON: We’re a few houses down. We’ll be home in a few. I’ll let Markus know. _

  
  


There wasn’t much Hank would be able to do until the twins came back home with Sumo. So he decided to do exactly that. Nothing much. He scrolled through some website listing some iconic tumblr posts through the last few decades. Jesus, that website just wouldn’t fucking die. But hey, it was one of the first places Hank went to be an anonymous weirdo on the internet. Hell, he was pretty sure Reed even had an account. Could’ve sworn he saw the fucker on it at work once, complete with a different shade of blue. Hank gently snorted at a post about clueless cowboys. Why was it that the shittiest textposts made him laugh? Or...just blow air out of his nose a little harder than usual. Either way, it was funny. 

Though he was brought out of his perusing of ancient texts when the front door opened and closed rather quickly, and footsteps rushed over to his door. One of the twins popped their heads in, he was too fast for Hank to actually see who it was. Damn boys would wear each other’s clothes. Nothing was sacred. How was Hank supposed to know which was which? He got his answer when the other one fully came into the room. Red LED and worried expression while he shuffled his feet. Caleb. He never knew what to do when something went wrong, so he froze up and fiddled with whatever he could. He could use a damn fidget cube, too. Hank silently waved him over and then patted the bed near himself. 

  
  


“I’m sorry!” Caleb whispered and took a few fidgety steps forward. Hank immediately took note of how he didn’t actually sit down. That was okay. “We thought that it wouldn’t be that bad because he didn’t say it was!”

“It’s okay, son, you two didn’t know.” Hank relaxed a bit when he saw Caleb sit down to take his shoes off and then curl protectively around Niles from behind. “You boys didn’t know it would be this bad. It’s okay.”

  
  


Connor came back in and draped the light blue blanket over his brothers. With a slight nod, Hank took that as his cue to leave. He  _ could _ get up without telling Nines. But who was to say he wouldn’t freak out and maybe even panic when he saw Hank wasn’t there? So he decided to bite the bullet and gently shake Niles awake again. His LED blinked red a few times before he bolted upright shaking. Caleb was quick to tell him they were all there, Connor sat down near them both and ran his hand through his hair. Hank, despite himself, leaned over and pressed a quick kiss to the kid’s forehead. He grumbled noncommittally about getting in the shower before getting up. He also could feel his son’s eyes boring into his back. Fuckin’-A, he could be affectionate when he wanted to be. Besides, his son needed him. His pride was nothing compared to keeping his son feeling safe and loved. 

  
  
  
  



	14. Oh I, I Speak To You Most Everyday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> title is from Providence by Lisa Mitchell which,,,, really works for these three,,,

_ July 2nd 2039 3:11 PM _

  
  


It was too damn hot. Even while being in the great big mansion that was Elijah Kamski’s house. It was big, sure, roomy too, a bit disorienting because everything was grey. But the worst thing was that it was so big that the air conditioners didn’t reach everywhere. So there Madison laid, on the floor of the room she used when she was over, and silently cursed at her eldest brother for not putting an air conditioner in her room. It had been a few days since the heat wave started, making her sweaty and sticky in all the worst places. It was uncomfortable and she felt like she needed to shower twice a day just to keep herself from being, well, gross. An exaggerated sigh escaped her as she picked up her phone. Still no new texts from any of the boys.  _ Any of them.  _ Even Gavin. Who texted her random text posts at all hours of the day! She’d just have to call them then. First up, her stupid pineapple of a brother; Gavin Alexander Reed. 

  
  


“Gavin, c’mon you asshole…” She muttered into the phone as it rang. He picked it up on the third ring. “Hey dipshit!”

“I’so early, why the fuck’re you callin’ me?” Oh, oh holy shit he sounded so tired. 

“Gav, it’s almost quarter after three.”   
  


“In the morning?!”

“The afternoon!” Madison heard his shuffling, and the sound of fabric being moved around. He was still in bed. “Dude, did you get hammered last night?”

“Maybe I did, what about it?” There was a soft groan from Gavin’s end of the call, then the sound of him walking around. “I’m entitled to hanging out with our brother, too.”

“So you and Eli got plastered?”

“Absolutely not!” A pause for Gavin to yawn, and the sound of a door opening. “No,  _ I’m _ just hungover. Eli’s probably dying somewhere around here. I’m gonna check his office.”

  
  


Madison tried to bite back an aggravated sigh. Okay, so two of her boys were just in the house. Eli kind of neglected to tell her that when he asked her to come over. At almost midnight. Jesus christ, he was probably drunk when he called her. Talk about a family outing. With an amused smile, Madison got up off the floor and left her room to go find the home office. It was just down the hall from her room, as per her initial request. It used to be hers at one point. Then she moved and used her own back at her apartment. With the tiniest footsteps she could manage with her bare feet sticking to the tile, she got into the home office. 

_ Elijah Arthur Kamski.  _

_ The fucking asshole. _

His office was down the hall from her room and it had air conditioning! Honestly, she had half a mind to clap and wake up the softly snoring genius slumped over the workbench. There was a half-constructed...thing on it. Instead, she whispered into the phone. 

  
  


“Gavin, what would you say if I told you I knew where Eli is?”

“I’d say you're a wizard.” The door started to open, and she hid behind it while hanging up. A soft click sound came from Gavin’s phone. “Madds? Did you just hang up on me?”

“And if I did?” 

  
  


She walked out from behind the door with a grin, basking in the glory that was scaring Gavin Reed. He looked like he jumped a foot in the fucking air as he yelped and screeched like a dinosaur. Which in turn caused Elijah to wake up, jumping from his seat and brandishing a protective face mask as a weapon. At least before he swayed heavily and sank to the floor with a moan of pain. While it was funny to see her brothers so indisposed, it did look like Eli was ready to throw up all over the floor. Something Gavin seemed to pick up on as well as he quickly shoved the nearest wastebasket at their older brother. Eli seemed to appreciate it as he rested his arms on it, giving the pair a thumbs up right before he got sick. 

It must have been a great night if Eli didn’t even move after. Gavin was leaning against the wall, looking just fine and actually had a somewhat amused look on his face. It was still mean even if he didn’t say anything outwardly about it. But Madison could totally understand. Elijah Kamski; genius, CEO of the biggest company in the world, and completely at his younger siblings’ mercy. If she was as terrible as Gavin, she might just make some breakfast and offer it to Elijah. But for the moment, she’d be nice and crouch down next to him to whisper. 

  
  


“Hey, Eli.” Madison smiled as he shifted a little bit to angle his back toward her. Asking her to physically interact with him without speaking. With a smile, she started rubbing small circles between his shoulders and watched his muscles relax. “You and Gav have fun last night? Do you need anything?”

“Change of clothes.” A soft groan as he picked his head up a bit. “Aspirin and blue gatorade?”

“You mean Cool Blue?” Gavin snorted and pushed off the wall. Looked like he was grabbing the clothes, then. “Or Arctic Blitz? Maybe Blue Cherry?”

“Only cops call them by their flavours.” Elijah started to uncurl from the wastebasket as Madison got up, he called after her as she started to leave. “Dark blue?”

“You got it.”

  
  


Sometimes it was kinda fun being around when Eli wasn’t his...usual self. Which was the kinda cocky and smug bastard. Well. With other people at least. He was always someone different with them, with her and Gavin. Someone who was just afraid of what might happen when he wasn’t there. Which, Madison fought back a shiver as she opened the fridge and grabbed three gatorades before grabbing a few aspirins, was something no one should have to feel. But the three of them felt things no one should have for their entire lives. Hell, it was only a few months ago that they were basically freed from their asshole murderer of a father. Madison thought that maybe things could finally be over. He wouldn't haunt them, haunt  _ Gavin, _ but things were bound to rear their ugly heads. 

But that was no way to think when she had an extremely hungover brother to help take care of. At least he was in a room with AC. An unconventional bitterness sat in her chest as she jogged back to the home office, seeing Gavin get a thin white tank top over Elijah’s head. It...had pineapples on it. Oh holy shit her pineapple joke survived. Madison grinned as she handed Eli his dark blue gatorade, Gavin a light green one that said cucumber on it, and she kept the raspberry lemonade one for herself. It tasted like an ice pop, how could she not? Elijah gratefully took the drink, and hummed gently in thanks as Madison set the two aspirin pills in his hand. He took the pills with the electrolyte filled drink and then leaned against his desk’s leg. 

  
  


“So,” Gavin kept his voice low. Even when he was probably making fun of his brother, he cared and made sure to put his well being first. “What were you workin’ on in here before ya conked out?”

“Birthday gift, fuck off, Gavin.” Eli half-heartedly flipped him off before drinking quite a bit of the gatorade. Huh, Gavin was right about it being Blue Cherry. “Not for you. For Duckie.”

“Wh--” Madison shook her head and blinked a few times before regaining her composure. “My birthday was a few weeks ago?”

“So it’s late, sue me. I’m an eccentric inventor living in the middle of buttfuck Michigan, I’m allowed to be late for a birthday gift. It’s almost done anyway.”

“What is it though?” Gavin sat down next to Eli and raised a brow. “It’s only half done, dude.”

“Bunny.”

“A bunny?” Madison smiled and sat down with her brothers, finally opening her own drink and taking a few sips of it. “Like when we were little, right?”

  
  


Elijah didn’t really confirm nor deny, but the glint in his eye told her she was right. It must have been one to replace the little one that could fit in her hand when they were kids. The thing finally crapped out and stopped working last year. Madison was devastated enough that she called Elijah in tears and told him her bunny died. She didn’t exactly remember what he said at the time, but it must have been a promise to make her a new one. 

Madison gave her eldest brother a smile and leaned over to give him a kiss on his forehead, not so subtly wiping the sweat from his brow off of her lips. Gross. He was gross. So was she though, she was still kinda sweaty. But they could stay in the home office for a while. Chat and maybe Gavin could help the two tinker with the android bunny. It would be nice to do something like that again. 

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> featuring my headcanon middle names for the boys!! Arthur like King Arthur for Elijah, and Alexander like Alexander the Great for Gavin! Madison's middle name is Elizabeth, like Queen Elizabeth. I wanted there to be some sort of link between the siblings and thought middle names would be as good as any!


	15. There's So Much Time To Question My Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title is from summer depression by girl in red
> 
> I know Father's Day is a few days away, but I've had these two done for a week and a half and now is as good a time as any to post them

_ June 18th 2039 2:30 PM _

  
  


Gifts were confusing. Buying them, wrapping them, giving them. Caleb didn’t...understand it. Well, it was more that he was scared of it. Afraid he’d do a bad job. He certainly wasn’t going to ask Connor what he was doing, nor Niles. They lived under the same roof for fuck’s sake. It would be hard to keep each other’s gifts secret. Markus however? That Caleb could do. Maybe even Richard, he saw Elijah as his dad. Okay, okay, cool. Maybe he had people he could go to for Father’s Day gifts. He just needed to...ask them first. Swallow his pride and ask for help getting Hank something. There was no doubt that Connor would get him a book, so that was off the table. Niles was probably going to get him a card and a letter detailing how much he appreciated the man. Bland. But perfectly Niles. Markus was gonna get Carl something artsy, and Hank something weird. Richard was probably gonna just spend the day with Elijah or something. Which meant that Caleb was completely in the dark. 

Which was how he found himself outside of the Manfred’s house with a slight nervous bounce in his leg. Walking through the front door was eerie as always, he didn’t know why the system had to greet him. It made things easier for Carl at least. He was old, he could use the ease of knowing exactly who was at the door. Caleb smirked to himself and figured he’d find the man in his studio. Lo and behold, he was. But Markus was nowhere to be seen. Instead, Nick was painting on an easel on the ground while Carl worked on another gigantic piece. It was filled with blues and reds, purples smeared in places. Negative space created a picture, two humanoid shapes holding hands. There were faded and muted purples in their hands and bodies. But the other spaces were loud with colour, bright red and blue looked like they were almost thrown on the canvas, bleeding and blending into a purplish hue. It made something in Caleb’s chest twist. He didn’t know what it was. It made him...feel something. It almost hurt. 

  
  


“Ah, Caleb, it’s always good to see you!” Carl spoke as he was lowered back to the ground. Nick didn’t move, he kept painting his own picture. “Your LED is yellow, are you alright?”

“Huh?” He ripped his eyes away from the large painting and shook his head. “What am I supposed to feel when I look at that?”

“Oh, I see. Well,” Carl wheeled up beside him and looked at the gigantic painting with a wistful smile. “Why don’t you tell me what  _ you _ feel, first?”

“I…” Caleb wasn’t exactly sure if that was a good idea. He was still pretty new to deviancy and emotions. He was the last of the RK Series to deviate. He pushed on anyway. “I feel...hurt. I don’t know why, but it sits in my chest and it hurts. The people holding hands, the blue and red, the purple blending outside of them. But the purple is in them? Like they’re supposed to be indistinguishable. But… But outside people can see they’re a human and android. But inside they don’t… They don’t care. They have each other.”

“And how does  _ that _ make you feel, Caleb?”

“Nervous.”

“Nervous?” Carl patted his arm and chuckled lightly. “I suppose that’s one way to feel about it. Do you want to know how I see it?” Caleb nodded at him and the painter continued. “I see two people. Two living, feeling, sentient people. Others will give them grief for what they believe, only looking at the colour of their blood; but they don’t see it. Inside is what matters. But, in time, that won’t matter either because they’ll see a friend above all else. They’ll see family. You’re here because you want to do something for Hank but you’re not sure what yet, aren’t you?”

  
  


Carl had to be a goddamn wizard or something. Caleb quickly explained that he had no idea what to do. He was stressed beyond belief because he really did love Hank, he really did see him as his dad. But he was just so fucking nervous and never had a dad before so he didn’t know what to do. With a heavy sigh, Caleb let Carl lead him into the living room. They sat and chatted for a while. About family, about love, about life. Family was something that Carl held very dear because he felt he should have done better by his biological son. He loved both his sons dearly and wanted to be able to for a long time. But he was human, one day he would leave them. The thought made him sad, but he accepted it. He had spent his best days with either one of them. He loved them both, and they knew it. To Carl, that was all that mattered. 

To Caleb, it was terrifying. Hank would die one day. Fuck, Sumo would too. Caleb wasn’t...prepared for that. He didn’t think one could be. Not really. But he was absolutely terrified of the day that would inevitably come. He was raised in an environment where that was normal. When dying meant it would be a slow day, not the end of a life. The other androids would be thrown out and replaced. Those couple interns and scientists would be a bit of a mess, but still just a minor inconvenience. So in a scenario where that wasn’t the case? Well, firstly it made him realise just how fucked up his “childhood” was. But the fact that he had to deal with the consequences of death one day was worse. One day, his dad was going to die. And he would be powerless to stop it. That was how human life worked. In order for there to be life, there had to be death. He just hoped that if someone had to find Hank, it wouldn’t be Niles. 

The concept of death was nothing new to the brothers, Caleb made that point clear to Carl. But Carl said that didn’t matter. Death was different for everyone. Which meant that the grieving process would be different. It was not linear, and sometimes people skipped over certain steps. It could take months, years, decades even. It could take an entire lifetime to come to terms with the fact that someone had died. Carl had a sad smile on his face as he spoke. For a second Caleb found himself wondering if he had spent a lifetime grieving someone. But it was none of his business. Whatever happened to Carl to have these views was none of his business. So he thanked the man, without even knowing what he was thanking him for, and gave him a hug before leaving to go back to the house. That was...no help at all. Caleb initially came over to get an idea of what to do for Hank for Father’s Day. Not to get a crash course on how to grieve. Whatever. He could just head up to Elijah’s to talk to Richard and Chloe about it. 

Which was exactly what he did when he got into the automated cab sitting outside. It would be a few hours, and Elijah would probably be a little confused as to why he was there. But it would be worth it. Hopefully Caleb could get something worthwhile from his weird pseudo-cousin. It was weird, it was so fucking weird. Maddie was Elijah and Gavin’s little sister, Caleb had a crush on Gavin and yet saw Maddie as his pseudo-mom. Niles was dating Maddie now and he was Caleb’s little brother, but saw Hank as his parental figure. Carl too, of course. Then Elijah liked to say that he saw all androids as his children. It made Caleb’s head spin. So was Richard his cousin? Was it weird he had a crush on Gavin?  _ Fuck. _ It wasn’t like he and the rest of the RK Series were actual biological siblings. So as long as he didn’t think about it too hard, then it wouldn’t be a problem. But then what if it was a problem? Markus, Alan, and Jeremy were working on trying to let humans adopt androids into their families. So what if Elijah adopted Chloe and Richard? Hank and Carl would no doubt adopt their kids. But where would that leave Caleb and Maddie? Ah fuck, he was giving himself a headache. 

Whatever, he would just go up to Elijah’s, talk to Richard and Chloe, and then go back into the city to get a gift for Hank. If that didn’t work, then he’d just get a card and tell him he loved his dad. That would work still, right? Cards were always nice. Like an actual, physical card. Shit Niles was probably going to get a physical card for him. Caleb sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Gifts were fucking hard. They had no business being such a stressful task. All he wanted to do was get Hank something he thought he’d like, but not copy his brothers, and then just hang out around the house. Why the hell was he so emotionally stunted? Well. He knew that already. His “childhood” had made him like this. But still! It was annoying as hell to be so worked up over a simple fucking holiday that was meant to be a simple “thank you for being there” for a parent! Maybe he could make some food or something. Ah shit wait, Niles wanted to do that. Why he had taken a liking to cooking, the world may never know. But Hank was the one subjected to trying his food. Which usually was good apparently, but that was beside the point. It was stupid, this was stupid. He could just fucking-- Oh, he was at Elijah’s. He could just ask Richard and Chloe. 

Caleb walked up to the house, letting himself in and taking off his shoes at the door. What a weird human habit to have. He walked around the house for a little bit, just trying to find Richard at first. He didn’t know if they were even home. Fuck. Chances were though, that Elijah was. So even if Caleb couldn’t find Chloe and Richard, he could find Elijah. He made his way to the home office and snorted softly upon seeing Elijah with his hair down and a pen in his mouth. He muttered to himself and skittered around as he worked, never taking notice of the android standing in the doorway. Then, by some miracle, Elijah tilted his head up. 

  
  


“Richard, you don’t have to hover-- Oh! Caleb, it’s good to see you.” Elijah’s face broke into a smile and he put the pen down, immediately leaving his workspace to come over and pat Caleb on the shoulder. “You need help with a gift for Hank?”

“How did you--”

“Father’s Day is tomorrow and Richard went to ask Hank for advice on what to get me.” 

“I thought he was just gonna fuckin’ hang out with you, to be honest.”

“As did I, but his sister gave him away by accident.” A soft smile and then a laugh as Elijah dragged Caleb into the sitting room to sit down. They both sat on a loveseat before Elijah sighed and nodded. “Right, so, you understand you  _ don’t _ have to buy him something, don’t you? That he would just like to spend the day with you and your brothers?”

“I guess. But I want it to be special because I--” Caleb felt like his throat was closing up, there was a sting behind his eyes and he had to recalibrate his voice module. “Because I’ve never had a dad before.”

“You’ll still have plenty of time with him to get extravagant, Caleb. Trust me. Hank just wants to spend time with you and your brothers.”

“How do  _ you _ know that?”

“Because that’s all I can hope for with Chloe and Richard. That they love me enough to be able to have fun existing with me.”

  
  


What was with the overarching theme of time and life and death? But he wasn’t about to interrupt Elijah as he spoke. He was a genius by his IQ, so maybe he had something useful for the holiday that Caleb could use. Elijah talked about how Caleb had to appreciate the holidays he had with Hank, how time wouldn’t be the same for him as it did the human man he called his father. While he did, in fact, know that he would live longer than Hank would; it wasn’t like he needed people to tell him that. It actually really fuckin’ hurt to be reminded of that fact. Mortality in humans was such an odd concept. It was an uncomfortable one. No one liked to explain it to humans, let alone androids. But Caleb leaned back and let his head rest against the back of the couch as he listened to Elijah talk. 

He spoke about mortality, about love and life, and about how Caleb existing by Hank’s side was likely more than enough for the man. About the fact that Hank had already lost a son, and he was prepared to face rejection if he really needed to. That...confused Caleb. Why would he think that they didn’t love him? Why in the fucking world would Hank think they would reject him? They lived with him, for fuck’s sake. Hell, Caleb saw him looking at houses one night, like he was considering buying a new house for them all to stay in. There was no way that Hank could think that they didn’t love him, that they might reject him. 

Caleb voiced his thoughts, making Elijah smile warmly and softly say he found his gift, then. Wh… Wait what? Hold on, what? How the hell was that revelation his gift? He just knew that he loved his dad--  _ He loved his dad. _ Caleb had never told Hank he loved him before. That was it. His gift was going to be actually verbally telling Hank he loved him. Over text was one thing, and it had only happened a very small handful of times. But verbally? That made it real. That would make Hank understand that he  _ was _ the man’s son. With a smile and a hug, which seemed to surprise Elijah, Caleb thanked him and headed out of the house. He also gave Chloe a hug before he left, seeing as she was his kinda cousin and he loved her to bits. Not that he’d tell anyone. But that was beside the point! He told her to give Richard a hug for him when he came home, and then went back to his home. His gift was going to be great. Not as extravagant as his brothers’ probably. But his would be from  _ him, _ and Hank would know it. 

  
  


\---

  
  


_ June 19th 2039 10:42 AM _

  
  


Part of Niles’ gift was to have Hank sleep in so he would be undisturbed while making him breakfast. Nothing too showy. It was actually pretty stereotypical, bacon and eggs with toast and coffee. Caleb was tasked with taking Sumo out for his walk while Connor cleaned up a little bit. The mid-morning air wasn’t as stuffy as Caleb thought it was going to be. Or maybe it wasn't as suffocating as he thought it would be. But the nerves. Oh holy shit the  _ nerves _ he had were going to make him go into stasis at this rate. But he had to walk for a few more houses before bringing Sumo back inside, so that was off the table. Actually, Sumo knew the way back home. If anything happened, then he would be able to go home safely still. That was beside the point though. If Hank knew that something bad happened on a day where they were going to have him take it easy, then that would defeat the purpose of the day. With a nervous bounce to his step, Caleb made his way back to the house with Sumo. The big baby whined softly, but Caleb was genuinely concerned he was going to go into stasis to prevent self-destruction from increased stress levels. So they were going home. 

Once safely back inside, Caleb saw Hank chatting with the boys at the table. There were a few immaculately wrapped gifts on the counter. Caleb saw that one of them was wrapped horribly and had little drawing on it in black marker. Niles must have been small and insisted on wrapping it. A small box with silver wrapping paper sat next to it. It must have been from Markus, considering the little smudge of paint on one corner. The last one was a plain black box, there must have been a book inside from Connor. Though there was another one with yellow paper and little ducks printed on it, that one might have been a gag gift from Maddie. Caleb suddenly felt like he should have gotten Hank something. If Maddie even got him something, then that meant he probably should have. But it wasn’t like he could just...go out. What would he even get? A tie? Hank didn’t wear ties. Something sporty? Hank didn’t use the basketball hoop he had anymore for obvious reasons. 

Caleb let Sumo loose in the house and then headed into his shared room. He sank into the bottom mattress, feeling the soft buzzing from the charging pad underneath him. Maybe he could have gotten Hank some sort of blanket or pillow or just... _ something. _ He felt like he did it wrong. That Elijah gave him bad advice. Maybe he was wrong to go to the weird recluse out in the middle of nowhere. But moping wasn’t going to do anything about the situation. Instead of drawing attention to himself by not being out there with his family, Caleb got changed into his Spider-Man pajamas and headed out to the kitchen to hug Connor and ruffle Niles’ hair. He patted Sumo on the back as he ate from his bowl, and then made awkward eye-contact with Hank. He nodded, fuck that was stupid, and then moved on to clean the dishes Niles had made. 

  
  


“Caleb?”  _ Shit that was right, he never did dishes. _ “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m okay, Dad.”

“You know you can tell me or your brothers if somethin’s botherin’ ya, right?”

“I know,” Caleb turned and gave Hank a smile he hoped didn’t look forced. It must have, though. Hank slightly squinted at him. He turned back to the sink. “I just figured I’d do something nice for you since, y’know, today being Father’s Day an’ all.”

  
  


Hank hummed in response, and then got up to get in the shower. He thanked Connor and Niles, giving them quick hugs before leaving. He could basically feel his brothers staring at him as if to ask him what all this was about. Caleb tried his best not to actually look at them. Because he might just break and tell them everything. That wasn’t going to happen, he’d fix this. He’d do...something. Not that he had much time to. But he’d figure something out. He had quite a few more hours in the day to try and remedy this...fiasco. It wasn’t a disaster yet. He just had to keep telling himself that. It wasn’t a disaster.  _ Yet. _

So he finished the dishes, unintentionally tensing when a hand was put on his shoulder. Caleb still wasn’t too great with touch sometimes. Even when he wasn’t freaking out about something. Turning slowly, Caleb saw Connor standing beside him. Right. Big brother instinct or some shit. Well it wasn’t some shit, he had it with Niles and Richard from time to time. This weird and uncanny ability to be able to tell that something was wrong, even with no outward tells. Caleb however, was chock full of ‘em. Hopefully no one besides Connor would bring attention to it. Though before his older brother could say anything, Hank stepped out of the bathroom and made his way back to the kitchen, saying he wanted to open the presents the boys got him. Caleb tensed even more. Fuck, fuck, no he didn’t--

Hank sat heavily in one of the chairs and called for Niles to get up off of the couch to sit with him. Niles who rubbed at one of his eyes and then excitedly pointed to the blue gift and happily chattered away about how it was his and Connor helped him wrap it. Hank listened with a grin, politely waiting for Niles to actually sit down and stop talking long enough for him to open it. Connor also sat down at the table, and he put a gentle hand on their younger brother’s arm and softly told him that Hank wasn’t going to open the gift while he was talking. Niles gave a sheepish smile and finished his thought before, very cutely, swinging his feet back and forth instead. The three looked at Caleb as if to ask if he was going to sit down. He just crossed his arms while leaning against the counter and motioned to the blue gift that was crudely wrapped. Hank shrugged to hide his disappointment, Connor nodded, and Niles outwardly said he wanted Caleb to sit with them. Well fuck, he couldn’t say no to Niles when he was small like that. Caleb sat on Connor’s other side, trapped between his twin and their father. 

Niles did, in fact, get him a physical card with a letter. He seemed very proud of himself while he was small, saying he wrote the letter all by himself and that it said how much he felt about their father. So, of course Hank asked how much he felt. There was a soft grin on the man’s face. Like he was being a Dad™ and instigating his son in a way that was just for fun. Which, because Niles was small, he didn’t realize and he threw his arms out to his sides, almost hitting Connor in the face in the process, and said that was how much he felt. Hank chuckled, reached out to ruffle his youngest son’s hair, and thanked him for the gifts. But he was going to read the letter later, though. Later? Why later? It didn’t seem to phase Niles, seeing as he brought his arms back toward himself and started playing with his sleeves as he watched. 

Next, Hank opened the one from Markus. It was some crude sculpture of a Saint Bernard…? Connor got nervous, putting a hand on the back of his neck and saying that he knew it wasn’t the best, but thought it was the thought that counted. Wait what? Caleb looked between the crude dog, Connor, Sumo, and Hank. So the one with the paint on the corner wasn’t Markus’ gift. Huh. Hank still seemed thrilled, and encouraged Connor to keep up with the art. Connor had a faint pink blush tint his cheeks, and he nodded. Wow, okay. So apparently Markus was teaching him art stuff as well as music. Well, it  _ would _ be a good way for him to unwind after a particularly hard day. 

So next was the black box, which Connor very quickly told Hank to save for last. Both Caleb and Hank raised their brows. Neither of them said a thing as Hank reached for the duck paper gift. He hesitated. Understandably so. The paper was childish like a little kid picked it out. But Hank tore open the paper to reveal a small plush duck. Rather apt at least. There was a note, from the half-siblings. Saying he was the duck, and the RK brothers were the ducklings. There was more to the note, explaining that Madison was the duckling to Elijah and Gavin, but Hank didn’t seem to read it. Or maybe he did and it reminded him too much of Cole for him to actually say something about it. Either way, it was actually a very meaningful gift they gave him. 

Which left the black box. Hank opened it, glancing at Caleb as he did so. But he didn’t get him a gift. He didn’t-- Hank barked out a laugh and then muttered something about Elijah being a weasley bastard. There was a boxset inside,  _ Smallville. _ Hank let a real smile show on his face as he opened it up and looked through it. From what Caleb could gather from a scan, it was an early 2000’s show about Superman’s backstory. That it was also the longest running CW show until  _ Supernatural _ rolled around. Pretty impressive, actually. But Caleb had no idea that Hank even liked Superman, he seemed disinterested in the movies they watched unless they were the animated ones. But the smile on his face told Caleb it didn’t matter.

What mattered was that his family was expecting him to have something. So he quickly stood up, said his gift was for later, and then went out the back door to sit under one of the trees. No one followed him. Caleb sat on the ground, probably getting dirt all over his pajamas, and tucked his knees up under his chin. He was half-expecting Niles to have burst outside to ask him what was going on. But Hank must have told him not to. Which made his stress levels fluctuate until they settled around the high seventies. Not great, but absolutely not the worst case scenario. With a soft sigh, Caleb started picking at the fuzz on his pajama bottoms. Though the back door opened softly and caused Caleb to duck his head further down. A warm hand landed on his head, and then Hank was making a sound as he put a folding chair down next to him and sat in it. 

  
  


“Is your gift all the fuzz you’re pickin’ off your pajamas?”

“No, it was something else.”

“It  _ was _ ?” Hank moved in the chair, and started carding his fingers through Caleb's hair, making him relax a little bit. His stress levels went down significantly. “You change your mind? It’s okay if you did, I know this is very new for you and you might not know how to feel about it.”

“I was--” Caleb cut himself up and then stood, brushing the dirt from his backside and then facing Hank as he stood up. “I was gonna actually tell you that I love you. A lot. And I really appreciate that you took me in and you’ve helped me through a lot.” He turned away and wrapped his arms around himself. “I love you a lot and I know that you know that, but it means something when you say it. And I never actually said it before, but you’re my dad and I love you a lot. And I feel like that’s a shit gift, but--”

  
  


Hank cut Caleb off with a tight hug. It wasn’t even a good one. But it was probably the best hug Caleb had ever gotten, in all honesty. A hug from his dad that said he knew exactly what Caleb was trying to say and he appreciated it. Neither of them said anything as Caleb moved so it could be a real hug. They stood there for a little longer than what someone might have deemed socially acceptable, and they hugged. Well, it was mostly Hank holding Caleb as he shook and tried to fight back tears. Carl was right; they would only have so much time together. Elijah was right; he would have plenty of time to build up in extravagance in terms of gifts. Deep down inside of himself; Caleb knew he was scared of both those things. But he had his dad here with him right now. He lived a life without him before, and he would live a life without him again some day. 

  
  


“I love you too, Caleb. Thank you.”

  
  


Hopefully that day was pretty far away from today.

  
  
  
  



	16. 'Cause Here In The Dark, You Can Fall Apart; And We Won't See A Thing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title is from Oh Brother by Saint Raymond

_ June 19th 2039 1:31 PM _

  
  


It was the first time Gavin had bought someone a Father’s Day gift of his own accord the other day. Eli and Madds roped him into it. Buying some stuffed duck for Anderson and making it about how she used to follow them around like a little lost duckling. Drawing some parallel between him and the duck, how the RK brothers were his ducklings following him around. Some shit like that. Honestly? Gavin couldn’t-- Well, it wasn’t that he couldn’t care less. He was actually on good terms with the Lieutenant, now. They got along, even joked around at work. Some people thought he hit his head when they first started outwardly showing they were friendly. But today? Gavin was going to kick back, relax, and bask in the glory that his shitty excuse of a father was where he belonged. Nowhere goddamn near  _ his _ family. Sure, Gavin thought he might be a bit overprotective, a little overbearing at times. But who could blame him? After the shit that Anatoli did? It was a wonder how Gavin hadn’t killed the man himself. 

But regardless; that fucker was paying the goddamn price for murder, and Gavin was tucked away in his apartment with his cat and a pile old DC movies calling his name. Then there was a knock on his door. Oh for fuck’s sake if it was his neigbour across the hall again-- No, no time for flipping his lid. Today was supposed to be a good and calming day. So Gavin forced out a sigh to try and calm himself down, putting on his usual fake smile when dealing with his neighbours, and opened the door. Then his smile turned real. There was Madds, holding some sort of present in her hands, presumably for him. He couldn’t see why else she’d be there. Without a care in the world, Gavin threw the door open farther and let in his little sister. He just hoped the gift had nothing to do with the pineapple joke from when they were kids. 

With a kiss to his cheek and a greeting to his cat, Madison dropped down on his couch and curled up into a comfortable ball. Well. For her it was comfortable, at least, and that was what mattered. Then they got to talking. Just...about stuff. About how working for the new CyberLife was going, how the DPD was adjusting to everything still, how she was looking for an apartment nearby the new CyberLife building, how Gavin was honestly planning on just watching DC movies. So they sat together and watched movie after movie. Until it had turned dark and Madison should probably have gotten home. Despite himself, Gavin let her stay. She was already asleep curled against his side. Where was the harm in letting his sister spend the night? They were close, it wasn’t like they didn’t like each other and she just dropped by. Besides, she hadn’t let him open the gift while she was awake. If she wasn’t awake, then he could open it. 

With some careful maneuvering on his part, Gavin managed to grab the gift from the coffee table while still having an arm around Madison. It had blue sparkly wrapping paper. Yep. She absolutely got this for him. Gavin fucking hated glitter. He was never gonna be able to get it out of the couch if it touched it. He tried to be as sneaky as he possibly could, slowly tearing it open and glazing back at his sister’s sleeping face every now and again. Holy shit she was  _ out. _ Gavin snickered to himself as he fully tore off the paper, and then his smile fell. He turned it over in his hands a few times. He read the title over and over again before looking down at his sister’s head resting on his shoulder. Where she had even found this was beyond him. But he popped open the DVD case, tensing when he felt Madison shift enough to suggest it woke her up. 

  
  


“Aww, Gavver,” She fought back a yawn and grabbed the case from him to close it. “It was supposed to be a surprise.”

“I’d say it was pretty damn surprising, Madds.” Gavin got up to put it in his DVD player. The main menu came up, Guinevere the van sitting on one side of a massive bottomless pit. “How did you even find a copy that works?”

“Eli did.” 

  
  


She grabbed the blanket from the back of the couch and wrapped herself up in it. Okay yeah that made sense.  _ Onward _ came out in 2020, that was quite some time ago by now. But that didn’t mean Gavin didn’t feel some sort of connection to Barley, and it went without saying that Madison had one to Ian. With a heavy sigh, he sat back on the couch and pulled his sister closer. Sure she was basically in his lap, but they could have this. Protectively hold his little sister like he used to. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t miss it sometimes. 

The simpler days where they had just gotten out of that house. When Gavin had gotten into the police academy and immediately asked Madison to move in once she turned eighteen. Of helping her figure out what to do with her life, and encouraging her even if he didn’t like the options she had. Getting excited for her even if he hated the idea of her working at that damn company. Back when he hated androids, or thought he did at least. When in all reality he hated that they tore his family apart a third time. As if losing his mom in some accident wasn’t enough. As if Eli leaving for college at sixteen and then just never coming back for more than a week wasn’t enough. As if having the rug pulled out from underneath him every time something good happened wasn’t enough. 

Gavin teared up during the movie, not that he’d say anything. Not that he didn’t know that Madison was outright crying into his shoulder by the scene with the boat. Not that he didn’t know just how much Madison projected when it came to this movie. The man she called her father suddenly being gone, being forced to stay with people she didn’t know. The man who was supposedly her father ignoring her in favour of her eldest brother. Turning to her other big brother for love. Gavin stepping up and taking care of her because Eli was busy when he wasn’t at school. Because their father couldn’t care less about her. Because Mrs. Kamski wanted nothing to do with both Madison and Gavin. So he took up the role. Gavin smiled and held her hand, he calmed her down when things scared her, he taught her how to do so many things. 

  
  


_ “I never had a dad,” _

  
  


Gavin looked over to see Madison whispering the words to herself. Maybe not to herself. He didn’t know. But he’d give her the moment. 

  
  


_ “But I always had you.” _

  
  


Fuck it, it was only Gavin and Madison. He scooped her up into a bone-crushing hug and held her there, openly crying into the blanket she had wrapped around herself. With a little wiggling, she got her arms free and hugged around his chest. It had been a long time since she felt the need to hug him that tightly. Like the air was getting squeezed out of his lungs. But it wasn’t like Gavin really cared. He knew for a fact that his family was  _ safe. _ That was all he could ask for. It was all he wanted. But...now that he got it? What else did he want out of life? Gavin glanced at the slightly open window and the pack of cigarettes sitting on the windowsill. To kick that nasty habit. That was what he wanted. He would get up and throw them away after the movie was fully over. Right now, he had a job to do as the big brother. As the big brother who did way more than he should have, but just enough in his own eyes. 

Gavin held his sister in his arms, smiling as he gently squeezed her. Yeah, they never had dads. But they had each other. More importantly? Madison and Elijah always had him. 

  
  
  
  



End file.
